Serena Williams' former coach, Rennae Stubbs, and respected analyst Andrea Petkovic recently discussed Jannik Sinner's coaches not being named among the ATP Coach of the Year nominees.
Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi have coached Sinner together since July 2022. Their partnership with the Italian has been one of the most successful on the ATP Tour in recent years.
In 2023, Sinner won the Davis Cup with Italy, secured a maiden Masters 1000 title at the Canadian Open, and finished as the runner-up to Novak Djokovic at the ATP Finals, held on home soil in Turin.
Those improvements led to Cahill and Vagnozzi winning the ATP Coach of the Year award for 2023. Some felt Novak Djokovic's coach at the time, Goran Ivanisevic, should have received the honor after his dominant season.
Sinner enjoyed an outstanding breakthrough season in 2024. He won his maiden Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and the US Open and became the fastest player to guarantee the ATP No. 1 ranking since Djokovic in 2015.
The 23-year-old recorded multiple other insane achievements during his incredible season. A player becoming No. 1 and winning their first Grand Slam titles would usually be good enough for that man's coaches to at least be on the shortlist for the best coach award.
Speaking on an episode of the Rennae Stubbs Podcast, Serena Williams' coach said she thought it was ridiculous for Sinner's coaches not to be on the list after he was not provisionally suspended during his much-publicized doping case.
"Listen, if you’re gonna let him play and you’re gonna allow Darren to coach, then why are you leaving them off that list? That’s ridiculous. I mean I can see it in a weird way but not really."
Sinner twice tested positive for the banned substance clostebol at March's Indian Wells Open. The International Tennis Integrity Agency cleared him of wrongdoing, but the World Anti-Doping Agency has appealed the case.
A ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport is expected until early 2025, and Petkovic thinks the ATP is protecting itself by not nominating Sinner for the sportsmanship award or his coaches for the coaching honor.
"I think it’s just self-protection. They don’t want to have to explain anything... They want to just protect themselves from a PR disaster that the guy that has Sportsmanship award gets banned for doping."
Stubbs then stated she hopes Sinner is among the nominees for the sportsmanship award next year if he is cleared of any wrongdoing because his behavior on the court is always impeccable, something Petkovic agreed with.
Stubbs: "If he [Jannik Sinner] doesn’t get banned and plays and next year he does get to the end of the year, he should be on the Sportsmanship award. I mean, honestly, the guy doesn’t say a peep on the court, he’s the most well-mannered, well-behaved human being I’ve seen possibly."
Petkovic: "He kicked the wall in Cincinnati, very gently, in a fit of rage. That was like the biggest emotional outburst."
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