Iga Swiatek, who reached No. 1 in the rankings in April and maintained it for the remainder of the season in part thanks to two Grand Slam victories, was recognised as WTA Player of the Year for the first time on Monday.
WTA Player of the Year is Iga Swiatek, and Best Coach is David Witt
Swiatek, a Polish player aged 21 who won the WTA Newcomer of the Year award in 2020, has the most victories on the circuit with 67 and won eight championships. This featured a string of six consecutive championships during a 37-match winning streak from February to July, which was the longest unbeaten run in women’s tennis in twenty-five years.
In a video interview with The Associated Press during her winning run, Swiatek stated, “I felt like everything clicked this season.” And I hadn’t planned on being so dependable.
Ash Barty, who had held the number one spot until he abruptly retired at age 25, was replaced by her as the leader of the rankings. In the months that followed, Swiatek won her second major title at the French Open and the U.S. Open, becoming the first woman to do so since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to win two Slams in a single season.
David Witt was named the 2017 WTA Coach of the Year. In 2022, Jessica Pegula, an American player who is 28 years old, reached a career-high No. 3 in the rankings and reached the quarterfinals of three Grand Slam competitions, losing each time to Barty or Swiatek, is one of his clients.
Pegula also won the Guadalajara Open, reached her first WTA 1000 final at the Madrid Open, and qualified for both the singles and doubles WTA Finals (with Coco Gauff).
The other registered coaches decided on Witt’s honour.
Following victories at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open, Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova were named the WTA Doubles Team of the Year for the second consecutive year and third time overall;
After moving up from No. 80 to No. 15 in the rankings and winning her first two tour-level championships, Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil was named the WTA’s Most Improved Player of the Year.
Chinese player Zheng Qinwen, who turned 20 in October, was named WTA Newcomer of the Year after climbing more than 100 rankings spots and making it all the way to the fourth round of the French Open before losing to Swiatek;
Tatjana Maria of Germany won the WTA Comeback Player of the Year award for reaching her maiden Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon at the age of 34, the oldest woman to do it in a major competition. She missed two stops on the tour to give birth to kids.
Ons Jabeur was given the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award, Gabriela Dabrowski was given the Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award for the third time, and Maria Sakkari was given the Jerry Diamond ACES Award for her work in promoting the game outside of the court.