Aryna Sabalenka and Paula Badosa shine as WTA announces awards for the 2024 season
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and Paula Badosa take the spotlight in the WTA player's award for the 2024 season.
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Aryna Sabalenka and Paula Badosa (via Times Now)
As one of the most memorable seasons in women’s tennis history comes to an end, the WTA has revealed its standout performers. Prominent among them were the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Paula Badosa, and Emma Navarro.
Sabalenka was voted the Player of the Year on the heels of a career-best season. Four other awards were given to other players, who made an exceptional contribution to the WTA 2024 season.
From Lulu Sun to Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini, stars of the sport earned their laurels with exceptional performances. Here are the WTA awardees for the 2024 season:
Most Improved Player of the Year: Emma Navarro
Emma Navarro was one of the most exciting players to follow this season. The American has shown great promise to become one of the Top WTA players in the coming years. She won her first career title at the WTA 250 Hobart International in January. She continued with her form and reached six more semifinals including the US Open.
She also reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon and famously defeated her fellow compatriot Coco Gauff in the Round of 16. The 23-year-old also defeated World No. 1 Sabalenka at the Indian Wells Masters in March. With her consistent results, she finished the year at a career-high World No. 8 in the WTA rankings.
Newcomer of the Year: Lulu Sun
Lulu Sun deserved the Newcomer of the Year Award following her breakthrough season. Having been ranked outside of the Top 200 at the beginning of the season, she soared to No. 40 by the end of the year. The New Zealand star opened her incredible campaign by making it to the Grand Slam main draw of the Australian Open.
Six months later, she made history by becoming the first New Zealand woman to reach the quarterfinals of Wimbledon as a qualifier. She famously ended Emma Raducanu’s run at the event with a three-set victory at All England Club.
In August, Sun reached her career-high World No. 39 after finishing as runners-up at the WTA 500 Alberto GNP Seguros in Monterrey.
Doubles Team of the Year: Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini
Italy’s duo Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini enjoyed an incredible season, tasting success at almost every tournament they partnered in. They won the WTA 1000 Italian Open doubles title in May, then the China Open, and also the WTA 500 Upper Austria Ladies Linz.
Together they reached their first Grand Slam doubles final at the French Open and capped off a memorable season by winning the Olympic doubles gold medal for Italy in Paris. Last month, they also helped Italy win the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga.
Comeback Player of the Year: Paula Badosa
Paula Badosa was really deserving of the award. The Spaniard returned to the court following her back injury sustained in 2023 and, despite some injury problems at the beginning of the 2024 season, she showed incredible resilience to roar back to the top of her game.
Badosa first showed glimpses of her best during the clay season by reaching the round of 16 of the Italian Open and the third round of the Roland Garros. The former World No. 2 then won her first title in two years at the Citi Open in Washington DC.
WTA awards for the 2024 season.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) December 9, 2024
š¹Player of the Year – Aryna Sabalenka.
š¹Doubles Team of the Year – Jasmine Paolini & Sara Errani.
š¹Comeback Player of the Year – Paula Badosa.
š¹Newcomer of the Year – Lulu Sun.
š¹Most Improved Player of the Year – Emma Navarro. pic.twitter.com/FJNqwUI6yc
After that, the 27-year-old reached the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open and China Open, and also the Ningbo Open. She matched her career-best Grand Slam record with a quarterfinal finish at the US Open. Badosa finished the year as World No. 12.
Player of the Year: Aryna Sabalenka
It came as no surprise that Aryna Sabalenka was voted as the player of the year. The Belarusian ended the year as World No. 1 for the first time in her career and won the most Grand Slams in the WTA Tour this season. Across the 2024 season, she reached seven finals and won four titles from them.
Sabalenka defended her Australian Open title in January and, after several months of wait, won the Cincinnati Open, the US Open, and the Wuhan Open. She lost two titles to Iga Swiatek during the clay season, first in Madrid and then in Rome.
However, the Belarusian captured the No. 1 position from Swiatek in October after the Polish star missed the entirety of the Asian swing.
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Victor Okechukwu
(640 Articles Published)