WTA announces 2022 awards

Player of the Year:  Iga Swiatek

This is World No.1 Iga Swiatek’s first time winning the WTA Player of the Year. Swiatek, who won Newcomer of the Year in 2020, had an outstanding season in 2022, leading the way for finals reached, trophies won, and matches won. She was crowned champion at eight tournaments, including winning six events in a row, including a 37-match winning streak.

Among those eight titles were two Grand Slams, at Roland Garros and the US Open, WTA 1000 titles at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open (Doha), BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells), the Miami Open presented Itaú, Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Rome) and WTA 500 titles at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart) and the San Diego Open. Overall, Swiatek won 67 matches this season.

Doubles Team of the Year: Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova

Barbora Krejcikova and doubles World No.1 Katerina Siniakova were awarded the Doubles Team of the Year for the second season in a row and the third time overall. The Czech pairing won three titles in 2022, all coming at the majors — the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. They also reached the title match at the WTA Finals. Their title in New York secured them the career Grand Slam, a feat achieved by only six other doubles teams.

Most Improved Player of the Year: Beatriz Haddad Maia

Player who finished inside the Top 100 and showed significant improvement throughout the season

Beatriz Haddad Maia is the first Brazilian woman to win a WTA Player Award since they were introduced in 1977. Her season was highlighted by a stellar sequence of results on grass, becoming the first woman to win the WTA 250 Rothesay Open Nottingham and WTA 250 Rothesay Classic Birmingham back-to-back while also making the semifinals at WTA 500 Rothesay International Eastbourne.

She broke into the Top 20 for the first time following her run to the final at the WTA 1000 National Bank Open presented by Rogers (Toronto) in August and went on to post a new career-high ranking of No.15 as part of a memorable season.

Newcomer of the Year: Zheng Qinwen

Player who made Top 100 debut and/or notable accomplishments during the season

Zheng Qinwen rose over 100 places this season in the WTA Rankings, with a steady string of results over the year, and broke into the Top 25 by the end of 2022. She reached her first WTA final at the WTA 500 Toray Pan Pacific Open (Tokyo), the semifinals of the WTA 250 Melbourne Summer Set 1, the last eight at the WTA 1000 level National Bank Open presented by Rogers (Toronto) and posted her best Grand Slam result by reaching the Round of 16 at Roland-Garros. Zheng Qinwen is the second Chinese woman to win a WTA Player Award after Zheng Jie earned the Comeback Player of the Year honor in 2008.

Comeback Player of the Year: Tatjana Maria

Player whose ranking previously dropped due to injury or personal reasons and current season’s results helped restore ranking.

After taking time away from summer 2020 to July 2021 to give birth to her second child Cecilia, Tatjana Maria enjoyed a return to winning ways in 2022, triumphing at the WTA 250 Copa Colsanitas presented by Zurich (Bogota) as a qualifier to lift her second career title and first since 2018. She further cemented her comeback with a fairytale run to her first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon before another semifinal at the WTA 250 Hana Bank Korea Open (Seoul) and making the last eight at WTA 250 Championnats Banque Nationale de Granby.

Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award: Ons Jabeur

Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award for the first time in her career, voted by her athlete peers for demonstrating conduct befitting of a professional sports figure and observing the rules of fair play, showing respect for others and being gracious on and off the court. Introduced in 1978, previous award winners include Petra Kvitova, Ana Ivanovic, Lindsay Davenport, Chris Evert, and Evonne Goolagong-Cawley.

Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award: Gabriela Dabrowski

This is Gabriela Dabrowski’s third Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award, which was first recognized in 2019, then again in 2020 when the honor was bestowed on the entire WTA Players’ Council that season, and now again in 2022. Gabriela has been celebrated in this category again following her support to fellow players at all levels of the tour and wider WTA initiatives. Previous recipients include Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters, and Pam Shriver.

Jerry Diamond ACES Award: Maria Sakkari

Named after former WTA CEO Jerry Diamond, the ACES Award this year recognizes Greece’s Maria Sakkari, who in 2022 consistently went above and beyond to promote the sport of women’s tennis to fans, media, and local communities by performing off-court promotional activities. This honor, introduced in 1995, was previously won by Angelique Kerber, Elina Svitolina, and Kiki Bertens.

For the complete story and photos, visit the WTA website at https://www.wtatennis.com/