Federer earns three ATP World Tour awards

Roger Federer collected sportsmanship, fans' favorite
and humanitarian awards. 2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   Roger Federer may have struggled this year, but he continues to rack up ATP World Tour awards.
   The 32-year-old Swiss star collected the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award for the ninth time and the Fans' Favorite Award for the 11th straight year, officials announced Monday during the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
   Federer also was named the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year for the second time for his foundation's support of children in Africa and Switzerland. His mother, Lynette, is South African, and his father, Robert, is Swiss. 
   ATP players voted on the sportsmanship award, the ATP selected the top humanitarian, and fans chose their favorite player.  
   Federer has collected a record 27 ATP World Tour awards overall.
   Other awards announced Monday:
   ATP World Tour No. 1 (determined by the rankings) -- Top-ranked Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Novak Djokovic are battling for the honor in the ATP World Tour Finals, the ATP reported on its web site.
   ATP World Tour No. 1 Doubles Team (determined by the rankings) -- Bob and Mike Bryan will finish as the top-ranked pair for the fifth straight year and record ninth time overall. The 35-year-old identical twins and former Stanford All-Americans won their 11th title of the year Sunday in the Paris Masters, tying their career high. They captured the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, making them the first team to hold all four majors and the Olympic gold medal at the same time.
   Comeback Player of the Year (voted by ATP players) -- After returning in February from a left knee injury that had sidelined him for seven months, Nadal reached nine straight finals. He won seven of them, including the French Open for the eighth time. Nadal also won his second U.S. Open title and improved from No. 4 at the beginning of the year to No. 1. Nadal becomes the first player to earn awards in all of the player-voted categories. The 27-year-old Spaniard earned the newcomer award in 2003, the most improved honor in 2005 and the sportsmanship award in 2010. He also received the humanitarian award in 2011.
   ATP Star of Tomorrow (determined by the rankings) -- Jiri Vesely, 20, of the Czech Republic claimed the award by becoming the youngest player to finish in the top 100 as of Oct. 28. The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) left-hander soared from No. 263 at the end of last year to No. 87. 
   Most Improved Player (voted by ATP players) -- Pablo Carreno Busta, 22, of Spain skyrocketed from a No. 715 at the end of last season to a career-high No. 66.
   Fans' Favorite Doubles Team -- The Bryans also won this award for a record ninth time.
   Media Excellence (awarded by ATP) -- The honor went to Shanghai-based Bendou Zhang of TITAN Sports, China’s most successful sports newspaper.