One year after becoming the youngest tennis player in history to finish the year ranked number one, Carlos Alcaraz was honored again with the Sportsmanship of the Year award. This is an award that Novak Djokovic has never owned.
Alcaraz received an award that Djokovic never owned
The Sportsmanship Award is named after the legendary Stefan Edberg, honoring fairness, professionalism and honesty on and off the field. This is a title decided by the votes of the players themselves. Alcaraz joins the list of Jose Higueras (1983), Alex Corretja (1996, 1998) and Rafael Nadal (2010, 2018-21) to become the fourth Spanish player to win this precious ATP award.
Whether it’s sending a get-well message to an injured opponent or sharing an umbrella with children picking up balls after a long rain, this two-time Grand Slam winner quickly established himself as one of the more elegant players. ATP Tour. When Fabio Fognini fell to the ground in Rio de Janeiro earlier this year, Alcaraz crossed the net and helped his opponent to his feet, bringing joy to the crowd.
Alcaraz won 6 titles in 2023, the most notable of which was a 5-set victory over two-time consecutive champion Novak Djokovic at the Wimbledon final. In addition to Buenos Aires, he also won at Indian Wells, Barcelona, Madrid and London (Queen’s Club). This baseline-style player was ranked No. 1 in the world before entering the US Open, bringing the total number of weeks at the top of the rankings to 36 weeks.
“I’m very happy to win the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award,” said Alcaraz. “I am especially happy that this is an award chosen by my colleagues on the ATP Tour. This means a lot to me, so thank you everyone.”
Alcaraz admitted that although he hoped to compete with Djokovic, he could not maintain that form throughout the season. “He played at that same level the whole match”, Alcaraz explained, “The quality of Djokovic’s shot was unbelievable. He hits very deep. It’s hard to take advantage of that. Once again, Nole proved why he is the best player in the world.
Djokovic has never won this title
“I feel like I’m not at Nole’s level on the indoor court. I played great at Wimbledon, at Cincinnati, at Roland Garros. During those matches, I felt like I was at a high level. But obviously, he has more experience than me when playing in these tournaments, on these fields.”
Since this award was named after Stefan Edberg (1996), Federer has been the record holder for the number of times it has been honored (13). Next are Rafael Nadal (5), Patrick Rafter (4), Alex Coretja, Paradorn Srichaphan (2), Casper Ruud, and Carlos Alcaraz (1). Meanwhile, despite being number one professionally, Novak Djokovic has never received this award.
