Why Has Novak Djokovic Never Won The Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award?

Novak Djokovic is one of the greatest players of this generation, if not the greatest. With 20 Grand Slams, 86 ATP Singles titles, 5 ATP Finals titles, the Serbian has achieved almost everything there is to achieve in the sport.

Moreover, he has won a record 37 ATP Masters titles. In fact, Novak Djokovic is the only player to have won all 9 Masters, and that too, twice.

However, the one accolade in the tennis world that continues to elude him is the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award. The award, voted for by fellow ATP players at the end of the year.

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Even nominations elude Novak Djokovic

The Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award represents fairness- respecting the rules, the umpires’ decisions and above all, your opponent.

It is the players themselves who vote for this prestigious award. Swiss Roger Federer currently holds a record 13 Sportsmanship Awards, followed only by Rafael Nadal’s 4 on this side of the century.

However, quite surprisingly, Novak Djokovic has only secured one nomination for the prize. Not only has he not won the Sportsmanship Award ever, but he has also not been nominated, barring 2011.

In 2011, the Serbinator was on the nominees’ list for the award, alongside Nadal, Federer, and Aisam- Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan. Sadly, Djokovic was nominated for the first and last time that year and lost the award to none other than Federer.

Despite performing at the highest level year after year, Novak is unable to make it onto even the nominees’ list. Why is that so? Could it be because it is the players who vote? Hence, they choose not to pick Djokovic since they drop so many title chances to him? Additionally, could it be because the players on tour know a lot more about each other than the viewer could never fathom?

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Why has Nole never won the award?

Many believe that the sportsmanship award eludes Djokovic because of his inability to contain his emotion on the court. When losing points, or winning tough rallies, the Serb often exclaims his displeasure or yells triumphantly.

Furthermore, he has received several warnings for smashing his rackets, which goes against the code of conduct.

His back-and-forths with the crowds have also been an issue of contention for years now. Djokovic often responds and mocks any audiences that do not support him or boo him when he’s down on his luck in any games.

In his own words, Novak has talked about rarely ever having the support of the tennis crowd in his matches.

There’s still more- the Serb, on many occasions, has argued with the chair umpires. Not only has he openly argued with their decisions, but has also mocked them.

Another common belief is that Djokovic, unlike Federer, tends to take a lot of time between points and serves. Over the course of an entire year-long tour, players facing these players across the net take note of these things. Ultimately, it boils down to their voting process, which is them voicing their opinion on the fairest player to play against in their own sport.

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Djokovic looks out for other players

However, this is not to say that the Serbinator’s presence is simply negative on the court. Novak is one of the kindest players on tour, proven by the causes he champions. Early last year, he had discussed a fund for the lower-ranked players to make ends meet and also pledged a million dollars for pandemic relief in Serbia.

Sadly, this year, too, the World No. 1 for a record seventh time in a row was not nominated for the sportsmanship award.