Sabalenka Beats Gauff And Swiatek To WTA Player Of Year Award
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Aryna Sabalenka's outstanding 2024 season has been recognized. The Belarusian received the WTA Player of the Year Award, being chosen ahead of others like Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek.
Sabalenka won the Australian Open and came very close to finishing as the year-end No. 1 in 2023. Swiatek overtook her rival and secured the No. 1 ranking at the end of that year by winning the WTA Finals.
Those achievements were already very impressive for a player who was blasted as untalented and unable to do anything aside from crashing the ball with power during the rallies in the early stages of her career.
Sabalenka's coach, Anton Dubrov, also deserves credit for her breakthrough in 2023. Former world No. 1 Dinara Safina revealed Sabalenka tried to hire her in 2019, but Dubrov's partnership with Her has worked terrifically since 2020.
2024 was an even better season for Sabalenka. In January, she retained the Australian Open title, triumphing against Gauff in a high-quality semifinal before comfortably beating Qinwen Zheng in the final.
Sabalenka did not win a tournament for over six months after that. The closest she came was finishing as runner-up to Swiatek at the Madrid Open and Italian Open, both played on her rival's favored clay courts.
Swiatek and Sabalenka's match in Madrid was extraordinary and one of the best WTA finals ever. After a contest of stunning quality from start to finish, the Pole saved three Championship points and triumphed in a deciding set tiebreak.
Sabalenka decided to skip the Olympics and start her North American hardcourt season early, which proved wise. She got some match practice at the Citi Open and Canadian Open before winning the Cincinnati Open, overcoming Jessica Pegula in the final.
That was followed by Sabalenka claiming a maiden US Open title after beating Pegula again in the final. The American might feel unfortunate since she played better than Coco Gauff did in 2023's final against Sabalenka, but the Belarusian produced inspired tennis.
Iga Swiatek's absence from the entire Asian swing after the US Open gave Sabalenka a perfect opportunity to overtake her rival in the rankings. Fans only recently discovered that Swiatek had been provisionally suspended due to a doping violation.
The Pole eventually accepted a one-month ban in that case. Sabalenka took advantage of her absence by obtaining a third Wuhan Open title, which meant she moved to No. 1 ahead of the WTA Finals.
Swiatek's defeat to eventual champion Gauff at the WTA Finals secured Sabalenka's year-end No. 1 ranking. She also lost to Gauff in the semifinal, but that disappointment does not detract from her achievement.
Sabalenka was a deserved winner of Player of the Year, and her selection was not surprising. Swiatek, Gauff, Jasmine Paolini, and Qinwen Zheng were the other nominees for the award.
Swiatek won the French Open, Gauff's WTA Finals triumph was the second-biggest title of her career, Paolini reached two Grand Slam finals during a breakout season, and Zheng secured an Olympic gold medal at Roland-Garros.
