Could Jannik Sinner's ATP Awards snub be due to doping issues?

Jannik Sinner was a big snub when it came to both the Coach of the Year award and also the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship award. But could the latter be due to his issues with doping that have added conjecture to his incredible year.

A year that saw him become World No.1, win two Grand Slam titles and eight overall. But a blot on his copy book was testing positive for Clostebol. WADA appealed to CAS asking for a ban of 1-2 years. It is probably because of this that he has been snubbed for the award.

A prize that is often full of conjecture with Novak Djokovic often snubbed much to the behest of fans of the great Serbian. While this year has seen Carlos Alcaraz who won last year as well as Casper Ruud who won the year before nominated as well as a retired player in Dominic Thiem who leaves the sport after this season.

His coaches Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi who won it last year have also been snubbed in their bid to regain their award. This is slightly bizarre too given that they have anchored Sinner to an even better season than 2023 which has seen him become World No.1, win multiple Grand Slam titles and be imperious at the top of the sport. But also similarly Carlos Alcaraz has not received a nomination for Juan Carlos Ferrero for a similarly successful year. The latter helped him to victories at Wimbledon and Roland Garros this season.

Instead the ATP Awards usually awards the coaches who have made a splash this year perhaps without the acclaim that a Cahill or Vagnozzi would get. This includes James Trotman who has helped send Jack Draper to new heights. Xavier Malisse (Alexei Popyrin), Emmanuel Planque (Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard), Michael Russell (Taylor Fritz), Brad Stine (Tommy Paul) and James Trotman (Jack Draper) are the nominees for that award.

All have had superb seasons but don't touch the Italian when it comes to overall success so could his impending issues with WADA and a potential ban be the reason?