According to the Associated Press on Monday, Aryna Sabalenka of Minsk, Belarus was named the 2024 WTA Player of the Year. In addition to winning two majors, Sabalenka moved into first place in the world rankings.
This is the first time a tennis player from Belarus has won the WTA Player of the Year Award. However, due to the Russian invasion on Ukraine, Sabalenka was not allowed to compete under the Belarusian flag to name.
This past season Sabalenka won the Australian Open for the second straight year. She defeated Qinwen Zheng of China 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Sabalenka then won her second major title in 2024 by beating Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 in the final of the 2024 United States Open. Sabalenka also won two Masters 1000 series events in Cincinnati and Wuhan. Interestingly, Sabalenka beat Pegula in the Cincinnati final as well by a score of 6-3, 7-5, and just like the Australian Open final, Sabalenka beat Zheng in the Wuhan Open final, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. In Sabalenka’s wins over Pegula, both finals were in the United States where the crowd was pro Pegula, and in Sabalenka’s win over Zheng in China, she was the visitor there as well.
The doubles team of the year were the Italian duo of Jasmine Paoloni and Sara Errani. They were honoured not because they won a grand slam doubles tournament together. Their greatest achievement was winning gold at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The most improved player was American Emma Navarro of New York City, New York. She climbed from 32nd in the WTA rankings to eighth. Navarro’s greatest accomplishments were reaching the semifinals of the United States Open and winning her first WTA title. That was the Hobart International in Australia, where she beat Belgium’s Elise Mertens, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.
The newcomer of the year was New Zealand’s Lulu Sun, who reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon and the finals of Mexico. The comeback player of the year was Spain’s Paula Badosa, who saw her world ranking climb from 140th to 12th. In 2023, Badosa missed the French Open and United States Open because of a stress fracture in her back. She had a strong summer as she won Washington and reached the quarterfinals of the 2024 US Open.
