Serbian legend Novak Djokovic may be unstoppable at 37, but he still isn’t the fan-favorite ATP player. Surprised? Despite an illustrious career, the ATP star has struggled to score high in popularity. This year, he missed the ATP’s fan-favorite award once again. As a result, a displeased Djokovic fan, took a sharp jibe at the current winner Jannik Sinner, questioning the sanctity of the ATP.

Djokovic’s die-hard fan took a direct jab at Jannik Sinner’s second consecutive win as the fan-favorite singles player in the annual ATP awards. Sinner has offered an impressive performance this season winning two major titles. He also ended his season as the ATP number one. “I just want to thank all the fans around the world for voting for me. It means so much to me because the votes are coming from all of you. You are the reason why I love to play tennis. The support has been amazing throughout this whole season,” said Sinner expressing his gratitude for the love. While this news delighted the majority. Djokovic’s followers weren’t satisfied.

The Serb’s dedicated fan Pavvy G took a dig at Sinner and tweeted, “Novak Djokovic has more followers on @X than ALL the active @atptour players have combined together.” His words highlighted his sheer disapproval of Jannik Sinner’s success over Djokovic. Djokovic’s former rival and colleague Roger Federer won this award for 19 years. His other rival Nadal also won this one time in 2022. However, Djokovic wasn’t fortunate enough to be titled a fan-favorite and the reason is still unclear. 

Steve Johnson once said in the Nothing Major podcast that Djokovic is often polarised by the fraternity. “I mean it’s a bit ridiculous, he can be in a sense polarising but it is a popularity contest. Do we think he can win this award? Not that he really cares,” said Johnson highlighting that the Serb might not care much about losing this position. However, Djokovic supporters thought he might receive this recognition in his career’s last period, but it doesn’t seem to be happening.

The anger of Djokovic fans reached a level higher when last year the Serb was not awarded the ATP Sportsmanship award despite winning three major titles and ending the year as ATP number one. Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli offered his views highlighting why the Serb might not receive his deserving acknowledgment.

The former pro dropped his perspective about why Djokovic didn’t get the Fan-Favorite ATP award

According to the Tennis 365 media publication, Bartoli said, “I just feel that Novak raises himself and is even stronger when he is against adversity. He likes to play and compete against it, I think people just got used so much to two players facing each other. If you look at the history of tennis it was (Bjorn) Borg against (John) McEnroe, it was (Pete) Sampras against (Andre) Agassi and it was Roger (Federer) against (Rafa) Nadal. You are not used to having a third one. The third one feels like the disruptor. You want to cheer for one or the other. You say ‘I was to cheer for Roger’ or ‘I want to cheer for Rafa’. You don’t want the third one that comes in and wins everything.” His statement highlighted how Djokovic was seen as a third wheel in the Federer-Nadal rivalry despite having more major titles than both of them. He highlighted if Djokovic had another player as his foremost rival, his status for the award could have changed.

Nevertheless, Djokovic fan’s statement showcased why they are so much dissatisfied with the ATP’s policies. Despite being a legend, Djokovic isn’t able to get what he deserves in terms of attaboy. But to a player of his stature, it hardly makes a difference. What are your thoughts on this?