World number one, Iga Swiatek, has received the 2022 WTA Player of the Year award for her exceptional performance this season.
Swiatek began the year ranked as world number nine but advanced up the table, making it all the way to world number two. She moved to world number one after the retirement of former world number one, Australian Ashleigh Barty, in March. She won two of the Grand Slams this season, the French Open and US Open, and maintained a 37-match winning streak along the way. In all, she won a total of 8 titles this season.
Swiatek, who turned pro in 2016, won the Newcomer of the Year award in 2020 when she won her first Grand Slam at the French Open. In 2021, she made it to the final of the French Open, but this time in the doubles event. But her performance in the 2022 season was nothing short of stellar.
Her 37-match winning streak, the longest this century, saw her claim 6 titles along the way. Her last performance this season was at the Poland Open, where she exited in the quarterfinals. At the season-ending WTA Finals, she crashed out in the semifinals after losing to Aryna Sabalenka.
The Pole now joins the likes of Barty, Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, and Martina Navratilova as women who have won the prestigious tennis award, and it serves as a way to crown the effort she put in to make the season quite a memorable one.
Other women who won the award include 20-year-old Chinese, Zheng Qinwen, who was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year. Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia received the WTA Most Improved Player of the Year award after winning her first two tour-level titles and rising to world number 15 from number 80.
The Comeback Player of the Year award went to Tatjana Maria, who made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon at age 34. For the second year straight, Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic were named the WTA Doubles Team of the Year. Ons Jabeur won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award.
Leon Osamor
