The nominees for the WTA Player Awards 2024 have been revealed, with Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, and Naomi Osaka being some of the prominent nominees. This season had plenty of memorable storylines to be followed, coupled with a stellar display of tennis.
Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka battled to assert their supremacy at the top. Barbora Krejcikova and Danielle Collins were among the players to have a resurgence this year.
The sport also witnessed quite a few retirements, including that of Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza. With the passing of another season, the time has come to honor those who performed the best. On that note, here’s a look at the nominees for this year’s WTA Player Awards:
WTA Player of the Year – Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini, and Zheng Qinwen
It is hardly a surprise to see the top five women in the year-end rankings be nominated for the Player of the Year Award. Sabalenka won the Australian Open and the US Open, along with WTA 1000 titles in Cincinnati and Wuhan. She was also the runner-up in Madrid and Rome and clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking for the first time.
Swiatek won her fifth Major crown at the French Open, claimed four WTA 1000 titles, and finished the season ranked No. 2. Gauff defended her title in Auckland at the start of the year, and went on a tear towards the end of the season, and won the China Open and the WTA Finals.
Paolini and Zheng both rose to the top this year. The former was the runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon, won a WTA 1000 title, and led Italy to the Billie Jean King Cup title. The latter reached the Australian Open final, won an Olympic gold medal, and was a finalist at the Wuhan Open and the WTA Finals.
WTA Newcomer of the Year – Erika Andreeva, Sonay Kartal, Lulu Sun, Zeynep Sonmez, and Rebecca Sramkova
Kartal and Sonmez won their maiden WTA title this season, and both of them did it at the WTA 250 level. Sramkova also won her first career title at this level, reached another two finals as well, and also led Slovakia to the Billie Jean King Cup final.
Andreeva had the best season of her career but her resume is the weakest out of all the nominees for Newcomer of the Year. While Sun didn’t win a title this year, she had the most memorable arrival on the tour. She made the quarterfinals of Wimbledon as a qualifier and finished as the runner-up at the WTA 500 tournament in Monterrey.
WTA Comeback Player of the Year – Amanda Anisimova, Naomi Osaka, Karolina Muchova, Paula Badosa, and Emma Raducanu
All nominees have a strong case for winning this award. Osaka returned from maternity break and finished the season ranked in the top 60. A quarterfinal at the WTA 1000 in Qatar was her best result this year. The other four players tasted considerable success following an injury setback last year.
Badosa leads the pack as she finished the season ranked No. 12, with a quarterfinal finish at the US Open being one of her best results. Muchova made a huge impact in a short amount of time. She finished the year ranked No. 22 despite playing in only eight tournaments, and made the last four at the US Open.
Anisimova was the runner-up at the Canadian Open and advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open. Raducanu’s recurring injuries didn’t allow her to compete as much but she did well enough to end the season in the top 60.
WTA Award for Most Improved Player – Danielle Collins, Anna Kalinskaya, Marta Kostyuk, Emma Navarro, and Diana Shnaider
Collins won the biggest title of her career at the Miami Open, and returned to the top 10 for a while this year. She also won the Charleston Open, and was the runner-up at the Strasbourg Open, making this a career-best season for her.
Shnaider won four titles this year, including one at the WTA 500 level. Navarro’s steady rise to the top was also noteworthy. She won her maiden WTA title in Hobart at the start of the year and made her top 10 debut after a semifinal showing at the US Open.
Kostyuk reached a couple of finals at the WTA 500 level and advanced to her maiden Major quarterfinal at the Australian Open. Kalinskaya was the runner-up at the WTA 1000 in Dubai and made the last eight for the first time at a Major at the Australian Open as well. All nominees raised their level by a fair margin, and all have a strong case to win this award.
WTA Doubles Team of the Year – Gabriela Dabrowski/Erin Routliffe, Katerina Siniakova/Taylor Townsend, Sara Errani/Jasmine Paolini, Jelena Ostapenko/Lyudmyla Kichenok, and Elise Mertens and Hsieh Su-wei
All nominated teams have won at least one big title this year. Townsend and Siniakova won Wimbledon and made the final of the WTA Finals. Dabrowski and Routliffe won the year-end championships and came up short in the Wimbledon final.
Ostapenko and Kichenok were finalists at the Australian Open and then claimed their first Major title as a pair at the US Open. Mertens and Hsieh won the season’s first Major and the Indian Wells Open. Errani and Paolini have been the most consistent as a team this year.
The Italians won the Olympic gold in doubles, two WTA 1000 titles, made the French Open final, and won the Billie Jean King Cup. They seem to be the slight favorites to win the award given their year-long results.
