Former world number 12 Borna Coric has been voted as the Comeback Player of the Year in the 2022 ATP Awards. The Croatian missed a year due to a shoulder injury and overcame adversity to win his first ATP Masters 1000 in Cincinnati.
Coric beat Rafael Nadal in the second round, Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round, Felix Auger Aliassime in the quarter final and Cameron Norrie in the semifinal before winning the final against Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7-0) 6-2 to clinch the final at the Southern and Western Open in Cincinnati, becoming the lowest-ranked champion in Masters 1000 series history.
Borna Coric: “I have no words to be honest. It’s just an unbelievable feeling. I thought I could play well. I was training hard, and I knew I could play good tennis, but I was not aware that I could play this level of tennis. I am just super happy”, said Coric.
Coric dropped to world number 278 last May and ended the 2022 season ranked world number 26. He made his comeback in Indian Wells last March and won a Challenger Tour title in Parma last June.
“I am super happy to win the ATP Comeback Player of the Year Award. Obviously it means a lot to me after a very hard season, and after my shoulder injury. So all I can say is to thank you very much from the bottom of my heart. It means a lot to me and obviously my next season is going to be even better”.
Coric continued his good period of form by beating Thanasi Kokkinakis and Brandon Nakashima in straight sets to reach the quarter final in Tokyo. During the European indoor season the Croatian player recorded his second quarter final of the season at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. He beat Hubert Hurkacz in three sets in the quarter finals to reach the semifinals, where he lost to Denis Shapovalov.
Coric was nominated in the Comeback Player of the Year category alongside Dominic Thiem, Stan Wawrinka and Wu Yibing.
