The WTA Player awards were finally announced with the winners voted upon by the international media and Ash Barty came away with the WTA Player of the Year prize.
World no.1, Barty earned her first Grand Slam win this year at the French Open and achieved the number one rank in June this year and again in September where she held on to it.
Towards the year-end, she reached the finals of the China Open and won the year-end WTA Finals. The Aussie had an incredible 57 match wins on tour to go with that.
Barty’s coach, Craig Tyzzer had earlier been announced as the winner of the WTA Coach of the Year. The team worked brilliantly to secure Barty the first rank after starting the year off at rank 15. Barty was voted winner with a shocking 82 per cent media vote.
Also Read:
US Open champion, 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu won the WTA Newcomer of the Year award.
The young Canadian sensation has had nothing short of a brilliant season. She started the year off outside the Top 100 and made her way up to end the year ranked at no.5.
She won her first Grand Slam at the US Open defeating six-time US Open champion Serena Williams.
Earlier Andreescu had also won the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells defeating former world no.1 and three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber. Further, she became the first tennis player to be given the Lou Marsh Trophy which is given to Canada’s best athlete each year.
American Sofia Kenin won the Most Improved Player of the Year award. Starting the season ranked at 56, the 21-year-old worked her way to her career-high best of 12. She won 37 per cent of the votes.
Kenin is among the only six players to have won three or more titles this tennis season. She won the title at Hobart early in the year and subsequently won at the Mallorca Open and the Women’s Open at Guangzhou.
Finally, the WTA Doubles Team of the Year award went to the Hungarian-French duo, Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic.
The duo was undefeated at the WTA Finals where they defeated the first and second-seeded teams to win the title. They became the only team to successfully defend their title in 11 years. They reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the Kremlin Cup.
The duo won the French Open, the Istanbul Open and reached the finals of the Australian Open early in the year. Their performance was incredibly successful throughout the year. The team won by gaining 44 per cent of the votes by the media.
Be the first to comment