ATP Slammed by Fans for Nominating Jack Draper for Breakthrough of the Year Award Over Learner Tien – “Absolutely Ridiculous”

The ATP has released the list of nominees for the Breakthrough of the Year Award. Four players are the nominees: Jack Draper, Joao Fonseca, Valentin Vacherot, and Jakub Mensik.

Except for Fonseca, the remaining three players clinched their career’s first Masters 1000 title this season. Draper went past Holger Rune to lift the Indian Wells Masters. Vacherot had a memorable campaign at the Shanghai Masters, where he defeated his cousin Arthur Rinderknech to win his career’s first title. En route to the win, he knocked out 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.

Mensik won his career’s first title at the Miami Open by defeating Djokovic in the championship clash. Fonseca, the 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals champion, won his career’s first title at the Argentina Open against home favorite Francisco Cerundolo.

He then lifted his first ATP 500 at the Swiss Indoors by defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. The 19-year-old, who started the 2024 season outside of the 700, now stands at a career-best No.24, thanks to his two titles as well as his Grand Slam performances as he played in every main draw of the four events.

Fans slam the ATP for not choosing Learner Tien as a nominee for the Breakthrough of the Year Award

When the ATP released the list, fans questioned why they missed out on Learner Tien. Fans wanted the ATP to pick Tien’s name over Jack Draper.

Check out fans’ reactions here:

Yeah and Draper’s breakthrough was so blatantly last year which makes him such a bizarre pick

— Colin (@ColinDreams) November 21, 2025

i love jack down but… it really should've been learner

— nana 🦋 (@sincaracing) November 20, 2025

I'm not surprised. Atp has not been doing a good job with promoting Tien all season long 😐😐

— Sasha 🎾💭 (@uraveragegirl02) November 21, 2025

Learner Tien started the year #121 or smth btw, but sure guys

— alp (@systemfa1lure_) November 21, 2025

Vacherot! Why is Fonseka in competition? He didn't win a tournament as strong as the other three and it's not fair to them to equate him with them. Also, in the tournament he won, he did not beat highly ranked players like the other three.

— Igor (@valter41) November 20, 2025

This is absolutely ridiculous. Someone should get fired for this.

— SuzieQ (@egrrrrl8446) November 21, 2025

Criminal for Tien not to be there. Draper hasn’t played since July. SMH

— Noodle_Poodle (@loconions) November 21, 2025

Tien Learner deserves a spot here. He won against high profile players this year and he’s only 19

— OluwaTosin (@danny_recce) November 21, 2025

The American ace started the season as a No.122 player, but now, he stands at a career-best 28 ranking thanks to his final run at the China Open and his victory at the Metz Open. Four-time Grad Slam Jannik Sinner denied him the China Open title, while in Metz, he went past Cameron Norrie in three sets.

Jim Courier backs Jack Draper to challenge Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz’s dominance

Everything was going well for Draper this season until the US Open. He lost the Qatar Open final to Andrey Rublev, then went past Rune at Indian Wells. The 23-year-old then made it to one more final, at the Madrid Open, but lost the title to three-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud.

At the US Open, then, an arm injury forced him to give the walkover to Zizou Bergs in the second round. The Brit has not competed since then. This season, the players who were lifting trophies one after the other were Carlos Alcaraz and Sinner. Former player Jim Courier thinks that if Draper stays healthy, he can challenge the dominance of the World No.1 and the World No.2. Courier told Tennis Channel:

I’m going to put my money down on Jack Draper. If he’s healthy as he’s shown us at Indian Wells, he can play with the big boys. He’s got big weapons with his leftie serve, his forehand is massive, he just needs health. His arm went out on him after Wimbledon this year.

Sinner holds a 1-1 head-to-head record over Draper. Against Alcaraz, Draper trails 2-4.

Had a bone bruise stress fracture, haven’t seen enough of him, but it sounds like from listening to some podcasts with him, it seems like he’s going to be back and ready to go for some exhos in the off-season and get back into it. We’ll see if Jack can do it – he’s been to a semi-final at the US Open in 2024.

Jim Courier added

Sinner and Alcaraz have won a combined 14 titles from 21 finals. They also won the last eight Majors as well as the last two ATP Finals. In the year-end event this season, Sinner defended his title by beating the 22-year-old.

Also read: FITP President Angelo Binaghi Wants Italian Open to Become 5th Grand Slam: “We Need to Challenge a Monopoly”