Mailbag: Handing Out 2023’s End of Year Tennis Awards

With 2024 on the horizon, it’s time to reflect and hand out some hardware. Plus, a must-have book suggestion for the tennis lover’s holiday gift wish list.

Hey, everyone.

Next week, we can talk more about the proposed Super League, Saudi Arabia’s emergence as a tennis host, Novak Djokovic as a host to American visitors, Next Gen, etc. But this week, it’s time to hand out 2023 ATP Awards.

First, dribs and drabs:

• Kara Swisher queries Martina Navratilova.

• Ted Robinson talks media and tennis with Richard Deitsch.

• Welcome to Sealand.

Meanwhile, the voting is in. The results have been certified by Ernst and Young. The envelopes, please, for the 2023 ATP Awards …

MVP

One player wins three of the four majors. (And, by his own reckoning, came maddeningly close to winning the fourth.) He finishes No. 1 in the rankings for the (don’t laugh) eighth time. In the process of it all, he takes the lead for most major wins among male players with 24, effectively declaring game, set, match on the GOAT discussion. He oozes aura the way the rotisserie chickens he doesn’t eat ooze grease. Did we mention he’s 36? It was Novak Djokovic’s year. The rest of the field will tell their grandkids they were once his contemporaries.

It was another dominant year for Djokovic, who won three majors and reached the final in another :: Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports

Rookie of the Year

As always, the demarcations are tough. We’ll go with Ben Shelton. Yes, technically he left Florida (as NCAA champ) and turned pro in 2022. But ’23 was his first full year on tour, consecrated by the fact that he left the USA for the first time to head to the Australian Open. He reached the second week there. Despite middling results for the next six months, he resurfaced to reach the U.S. Open semis and, maybe most critically, still had the durability/professionalism to answer the phone in the fall. He started the year at No. 96 and finished at No. 16. And he is still learning how to play. Ball game.

Most Improved

Let’s first acknowledge Carlos Alcaraz, who didn’t have much improving to do but whose heroic Wimbledon title immediately closed off any flabby talk of one Slam wonder or what-have-you-done-lately? Jannik Sinner, likewise, was already damn good but only got better, especially in the fall when he beat Djokovic twice in consecutive weeks. Instead, we go with a more conventional choice. Chris Eubanks started the year so deep outside the top 100 that he was (horrors!) thinking about a full-time media career. Success begat success. (And, yes, a 6’8” physique begat aces). He won a title, reached the second week of Wimbledon and finished in position to be seeded come Australia. And he’s a good dude.

Comeback Player of the Year

There was a number of inspiring returns. Whatever you may think of him personally, note that Alexander Zverev left the 2022 French Open in a wheelchair, didn’t play again the rest of the year and is now ranked No. 7. Let’s go off the board with … the Davis Cup. Thought to be the most distressed of assets, the most tarnished of brands, the Cup made a rousing return in Málaga. The current format won’t please everyone. We are a long way from ties filling soccer stadiums. But this year’s reset was fun and relevant, which is much of the battle. This missive from reader Andrew Miller last week summed it up beautifully.

“The scene at one Davis Cup tie included a (coaching) duel between former ATP pros Jarkko Nieminen and Frank Dancevic, with Milos Raonic suited up and Vasek Pospisil bringing some magic to the doubles before Nieminen’s team and the ‘ruthless’ Finns took the match and the tie. The fast-paced match even featured, I think, future Hall of Famer Garbiñe Muguruza catching the action from the stands in Málaga. While Team Canada’s bench heroically subbed in for a few young guys that were last year’s Davis Cup superstars, I am still struck by how these kinds of ties bring so much of tennis’s recent past (Nieminen! Raonic! Fast-paced tennis!) to the table. Precarious sponsorship or not, this was a lot of fun to see. Props to Italy, and props to the Davis Cup!”

Coach of the Year

Again, unlike in team sports, I struggle to see how the award doesn’t go to the coach of the best player. Goran Ivanišević, pick up your trophy at the front desk. Additional nods to Juan Carlos Ferrero, Gilles Cervara, et al.

Doubles Team of the Year

We’ll respect the rankings and go with Austin Krajicek and Ivan Dodig. Otherwise, the recency effect (the U.S. Open and ATP Finals titles) would militate a vote in favor of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.

Alcaraz outlasted Djokovic in five sets at Wimbledon to capture his second career Grand Slam :: Susan Mullane/USA TODAY Sports

Match of the Year

You love that Alcaraz stared down Djokovic in a spellbinding, sidewinding five-set match, 1–6, 7–6 (9–7), 6–1, 3–6, 6–4, at the Wimbledon final. You love that Djokovic, fully motivated, rebounded the next time they played (and the second-best match of the year) and took down Alcaraz in Cincinnati, 5–7, 7–6, 7–6. What a sport.

Quote of the Year

Just find a Daniil Medvedev transcript and throw a dart.

Daniil Medvedev was asked why tennis players yell at their team after missing a shot, bc it doesn’t happen in other sports:

“I don’t really have an explanation. I’d generally think tennis drives people crazy. Tennis players drive themselves crazy.”😂

pic.twitter.com/I1XRlnP35J

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 30, 2023

Shot of the Year

There is a welter Alcaraz-matazz to choose from. But given the occasion—the de facto final of the French Open, with Novak Djokovic on the other side of the net—how do we not choose this?

So long, farewell

John Isner, Pablo Andújar, Thomaz Bellucci, Jérémy Chardy, Peter Gojowczyk, Treat Huey, Malek Jaziri, Oliver Marach, Chris Widmaier.

Story lines to follow in 2024

How will Rafael Nadal, now 37, fare in his comeback? How long will Djokovic keep this up? Is Sinner major-ready? Can Alcaraz reboot after a smashing first half and disappointing second half? Is the SuperTour for real? Who will emerge as the top American? Will the ATP take the Saudi bag?

Shots, miscellany

• Jon, as we round the corner of the holiday season heading towards Christmas, I thought you might like a tennis book suggestion for your readers. 366 Days of Tennis: A Tip a Day to Improve Your Game. It’s just what it says, a book full of tips to improve your tennis game one step at a time. The tips in the book are framed as real-life situations with examples, making them easy to understand and absorb. I know the author, Rob Carver, and have been coached by and taken lessons from him. It is a great little book and I would highly recommend it. Thanks, Lilas Pratt

• In keeping with the state of Texas’s reputation, Dallas gets a bigger event going forward: “The Dallas Open announces a unique partnership between GF Sports & Entertainment and the Dallas Cowboys, which will bring the franchise known worldwide for football into the realm of professional tennis. With its recently announced upgrade to an ATP 500-level tournament, the Dallas Open will bring pro tennis players from around the world to Ford Center at The Star in Frisco—the Dallas Cowboys World Corporate Headquarters and Training Facility, starting in 2025.”

• The WTA announced today that the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, will return to the Hologic WTA Tour in 2024, with the WTA 250 tournament taking place during the week of Feb. 5.