Jannik Sinner was crowned as the 2023 ATP Fans' Favorite Award winner in singles, outshining some of his more accomplished peers like Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev.
Sinner also beat his generational rival Carlos Alcaraz for this prestigious award, voted online by tennis fans, and is the first Italian man to top this podium. Incidentally, the 22-year-old is the youngest winner of the Fans' Favorite award since Roger Federer.
The Swiss legend was also 22 when he won it for the first time in his breakthrough season in 2003 when he lifted his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon. Federer has since gone on to rack up 18 more crowns of this award for the next 18 straight years.
Federer's dominance of this award eventually ceased in 2022 when he retired from professional tennis, playing just one farewell match at the Laver Cup. Fittingly, his great rival Rafael Nadal picked up the award last year, marking the first time a player other than Federer won it since 2002.
Nadal's absence last season opened the door for a new winner. Even though Sinner doesn't quite boast the same number of social media followers as Djokovic, Alcaraz, or even Nick Kyrgios, he has endeared himself with the crowd wherever he played.
Sinner was not just the ultimate professional; his charming personality made him an instant crowd favorite. This award came on the back of his career-best year on the ATP Tour. He won his first Masters 1000 title and equaled the previous best-raking of an Italian player on the ATP Tour at World No. 4.
And it would be foolhardy to rule out the importance of the Davis Cup win in November, which might have woken up the entire Italian public to cast their vote for their hero who ended Italy's wait for a second Davis Cup title, which Sinner played a massive role in.
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