Jannik Sinner’s 2024 season can be summed up in two halves. While on the court, he was a force to reckon with winning a host of big titles, including the Australian Open and the US Open, the Italian star also found himself embroiled in a doping controversy. Despite being let off without any severe punishment, Sinner faced massive criticism from a section of bigwigs in the tennis world, including Nick Kyrgios. The Australian star wasn’t happy with a possible preferential treatment in Sinner’s case. After Sinner received a massive ATP honor recently, Kyrgios again took a cheeky dig at him.

Earlier this week, the ATP released the list of the year-end awards. Among the winners was Jannik Sinner, who was voted as the Fans’ Favorite Singles Player of the 2024 season. It was for the second consecutive year that Sinner clinched this award as he had won it last year as well. However, this didn’t go down well with Kyrgios, who slammed the ATP for awarding Sinner despite his doping controversy.

Replying to the post of an X user Pavvy G who was taking a dig at ATP himself, Kyrgios further wrote, “Why are they trying to pull the wool over our eyes.” The Australian star followed it up with a couple of laughing emojis and an injection emoji, signifying that he was referring to Sinner’s doping case. But Sinner is not the only player whom Kyrgios has criticized for the failed dope tests. He has come down hard on Iga Swiatek as well, who also failed a doping test but was let off with just a month’s ban.

In an interview recently, Kyrgios called out both Sinner and Swiatek, saying, “Honestly, it’s nothing personal. Like, I’ve got nothing personal on Iga. I just think that it should be a level playing field for everyone and that’s what pisses me off. Because I know these guys it feels like they already have an advantage because they’re just Gods and then taking all these other performance-enhancing drugs just like for me, it makes me angry because I know that me personally, I’ve never done it and I won’t ever do it.”

Amid this criticism, Sinner was elated to have received the honor for the second consecutive year in the ATP year-end awards. After clinching the honor, he thanked the fans for voting him as their favorite player of the year.

Jannik Sinner makes a heartfelt revelation to his fans: ‘It means so much to me’

The Italian star enjoyed the most successful season of his career, winning an astonishing eight titles in 2024. Additionally, he also finished the year as the World Number 1. It wasn’t a surprise that the fans bestowed him with the favorite player trophy. Subsequently, the reigning Australian Open champion thanked fans and made a gratitude-filled remark.

He said, “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.” 

Sinner has already won multiple awards at this stage. Back in 2019, he was named the Newcomer of the Year. Subsequently, he also won the Most Improved Player of the Year along with the Fans’ Favorite Player last year. It has been a meteoric rise for Sinner and the year-end awards that he has won in the last two years speak volumes about his ability.