Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka's outstanding seasons saw them finish as the year-end No. 1's on the ATP and WTA Tours, and both players received trophies to mark that achievement.
The tennis season is coming to an end, and on both Tours, the year-end No. 1 players were already decided. On the WTA Tour, that happened during the WTA Finals, while on the ATP Tour, the year-end No. 1 was known even before the year-end championship.
Sinner is competing on home soil in Turin at the ATP Finals. He was the runner-up to Novak Djokovic at last year's tournament, but the Serbian withdrew from the 2024 iteration of the event.
The 23-year-old began his tournament with a solid straight-set victory against Alex de Minaur. Sinner's consistency throughout that match is a significant reason he secured the year-end No. 1 ranking.
After a breakthrough season that included winning his maiden Grand Slam titles at the Australian and US Opens, Sinner became the fastest player to guarantee he would finish the year at No. 1 since Djokovic in 2015, proving beyond any reasonable doubt that he was the best player in 2024.
Sinner thanked those closest to him after receiving the trophy to mark his achievement, saying he could not have become the year-end No. 1 without their support.
"I want to thank my team. You know, without the people close to me, who don't understand me as a person, it would be very difficult. I'm very lucky to have these persons around me, and without these people, it would not be possible."
The Italian also spoke afterward about his parents' sacrifices for him after they were both in tears while he received the trophy for finishing the year at No. 1 at the ATP Finals in Turin.
"I just heard that my mum is crying which is something very cute. Only they know from my early stages from when I was 13 the sacrifices we made as a family. We never would have thought that we'd have this trophy at some point, these are really only dreams."
"And then you slowly try to improve as a player. And then you try to improve as a player and a person, and now I'm standing here with one of the, if not maybe the most special trophy I have. This is amazing because it's an achievement over 52 weeks, so I'm very happy."
Unlike Sinner, Sabalenka's place as the year-end No. 1 was not secured before the season-ending finals. Iga Swiatek could still mathematically overtake the Belarusian despite being over 1,000 points behind her.
However, after Sabalenka beat Qinwen Zheng and Jasmine Paolini in her opening two matches, Swiatek's loss to the eventual champion Coco Gauff confirmed Sabalenka as the year-end No. 1.
Despite winning the Australian Open at the start of 2024, the 26-year-old dropped to No. 3 a few months later and trailed Swiatek by many points after a combination of a loss of form and injuries.
But a superb run of form, including winning the US Open, the Cincinnati Open, and the Wuhan Open, led to Sabalenka overtaking Swiatek and receiving the trophy for finishing as the year-end No. 1 at the WTA Finals in Riyadh.