2019 WTA Awards explained

Player Of The Year: Ashleigh Barty
Most Improved Player Of The Year: Sofia Kenin
Newcomer Of The Year: Bianca Andreescu
Comeback Player Of The Year: Belinda Bencic
Previous:2018
Next:2020

The 2019 WTA Awards are a series of awards given by the Women's Tennis Association to players who have achieved something remarkable during the 2019 WTA Tour.[1]

The awards

These awards are decided by either the media, the players, the association, or the fans. Nominees were announced by the WTA's Twitter account[2] and on the WTA official website.[1]

Note: award winners in bold

Player of the Year

Doubles Team of the Year

Most Improved Player of the Year

Newcomer of the Year

Comeback Player of the Year

Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award

Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award

Diamond Aces

WTA Coach of the Year

Fan Favourite Player

Fan Favorite WTA Shot of the Year

Fan Favorite WTA Match of the Year

Fan Favorite Grand Slam Match of the Year

The awards and honours of the decade (2010s)

In December 2019 WTA announced five top 10 categories of different aspects which marked 2010s in WTA tennis.

Top 10 Rivalries of the Decade

  1. Serena Williams vs Venus Williams, 18–12 (four times at Majors in 2010s, including 2017 Australian Open final) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft6KmWh7cj0 )
  2. Maria Sharapova vs Simona Halep, 7–2 (most matches went to third set, includes Sharapova's three set victory in 2014 French Open final)
  3. Angelique Kerber vs Karolína Plíšková, 7–5 (five matches in finals, including Kerber's three set victory in 2016 US Open final)
  4. Serena Williams vs Maria Sharapova, 20–2 (Serena won 19 matches since Maria was leading the head to head 2–1 in 2004)
  5. Petra Kvitová vs Agnieszka Radwańska, 8–5 (including Radwańska's three set victory in final at 2015 WTA Finals)
  6. Victoria Azarenka vs Li Na, 6–5 (including Azarenka's three set victory in 2013 Australian Open final)
  7. Belinda Bencic vs Naomi Osaka, 3–0 (Bencic ended Osaka's title defence at 2019 Indian Wells and 2019 US Open)
  8. Maria Sharapova vs Li Na, 10–5 (played 9 times in 2010s, 2 Major semifinal matches)
  9. Simona Halep vs Elina Svitolina, 5–5 (most of the matches being played in the final stages of the biggest tournaments)
  10. Serena Williams vs Karolína Plíšková, 2–2 (three of the four matches happened at Majors)

Top 10 Streaks of the Decade

  1. Serena Williams, winning second "Serena Slam", 201415 non-calendar year Grand Slam (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKkKOdKwi78 )
  2. 2019 season, 18 different tournaments, 18 different champions at the start of the year
  3. Victoria Azarenka, 26-match win streak, ascent to world No. 1 and first Major at Australian Open to start the 2012 season
  4. Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza, 41-match winning streak in doubles during 201516
  5. Bianca Andreescu, 8–0 vs top 10 in 2019
  6. Caroline Wozniacki, 2010 season 32–4 record after Wimbledon, including 4 titles and becoming world No. 1
  7. Belinda Bencic, 4–0 vs world No. 1s
  8. Serena Williams, 20-match win streak in Miami from 2013 to 2016 which included 3 titles
  9. Johanna Konta, 2015 season translate from ITF tour to having success at US Open and Wuhan
  10. Aryna Sabalenka, having a perfect record at Premier 5 tournament in Wuhan, which includes two titles in a row (20182019)

Top 10 Comebacks of the Decade

  1. Serena Williams, comeback after maternity leave, reaching four Major finals, the first coming just 10 months after giving birth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU0WJIk4br0 )
  2. Petra Kvitová, comeback in just six months from stabbing, to win Birmingham just two weeks back
  3. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, comeback from injury to win US Open in mixed doubles, a year after dislocating her knee cap
  4. Martina Hingis, comeback from retirement in 2013 to play doubles, winning eventually four Majors and having 41-match winning streak during 201516
  5. Ashleigh Barty, return to tennis in early 2016 after playing cricket during two-year-hiatus from tennis, going on to win her first Major and finishing 2019 as the world No. 1
  6. Venus Williams, comeback after Sjögrens Syndrome diagnosis in 2011, winning Olympic gold less than year later, and reaching two Major finals in 2017
  7. Justine Henin, comeback from retirement after 18 months in 2010, reaching immediately finals of Sydney and Australian Open
  8. Belinda Bencic, comeback from injury to reach again top 10 in 2019 after three years and winning Dubai and Moscow
  9. Elena Vesnina, comeback from injury to win Olympic gold in doubles and Indian Wells in singles
  10. Victoria Azarenka, comeback after maternity leave, climbing from No. 978 to the top 50 in 2017

Top 10 Upsets of the Decade

  1. Roberta Vinci vs Serena Williams, semifinals of 2015 US Open (2–6, 6–4, 6–4), Vinci playing first Slam semifinal and being outside top 40, ended Serena's Calendar Slam hunt (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G72-g05eM0 )
  2. Monica Puig vs Angelique Kerber, final of the 2016 Olympics (6–4, 4–6, 6–1), Puig winning the gold unseeded and beating three Grand Slam champions and two current top 3 players
  3. Jeļena Ostapenko vs Simona Halep, final of 2017 French Open (4–6, 6–4, 6–3), Ostapenko winning first Slam and also title of any kind at 20 years old, being ranked No. 47
  4. Dominika Cibulková vs Angelique Kerber, final of 2016 WTA Finals (6–3, 6–4), Cibulková winning the tournament after first going 0–2 in round robin and avenging loss to Kerber in that stage
  5. Bianca Andreescu vs Angelique Kerber, final of 2019 Indian Wells (6–4, 3–6, 6–4), Andreescu becoming first wild card champion in Indian Wells at 18 years old
  6. Li Na vs Caroline Wozniacki, semifinals of 2011 Australian Open (3–6, 7–5, 6–3), Li saving match point to become first Chinese Major finalist and later that year a champion
  7. Victoria Azarenka vs Maria Sharapova, final of 2012 Australian Open (6–3, 6–0), Azarenka winning 12 of the last 13 games in her first Major final
  8. Flavia Pennetta vs Li Na, semifinals of 2014 Indian Wells (7–6, 6–3), Pennetta going on to win the title in less than a year after comeback from injury
  9. Hsieh Su-wei vs Agnieszka Radwańska, third round of 2018 Australian Open (6–2, 7–5), with Hsieh being ranked at No. 88
  10. Ashleigh Barty vs Petra Kvitová, quarterfinals of 2019 Miami Open (7–6, 3–6, 6–2), Barty winning first match of rivalry after previously being down 4–0

Top 10 WTA Outfits of the Decade

  1. Maria Sharapova, 2017 US Open (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZYIvd6E_rU )
  2. Maria Sharapova, 2017 US Open (second outfit)
  3. Naomi Osaka, 2019 US Open
  4. Serena Williams, 2015 Australian Open
  5. Caroline Wozniacki, 2010 US Open
  6. Sorana Cîrstea, 2019 French Open
  7. Andrea Petkovic, 2018 Australian Open
  8. Venus Williams, 2017 Australian Open
  9. Ana Ivanovic, 2016 US Open
  10. Kristina Mladenovic, 2017 Wimbledon

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2019 Season WTA Player Awards: Nominations announced. 2020-01-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20200115065053/https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1498837/2019-season-wta-player-awards-nominations-announced. 2020-01-15. live.
  2. Web site: Wta(@Wta) 님 | 트위터 . 2020-01-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200101070156/https://twitter.com/WTA . 2020-01-01 . live .
  3. Web site: 2019 WTA Player of the Year: Ashleigh Barty. 2020-01-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20191211162623/https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1526953/2019-wta-player-of-the-year-ashleigh-barty. 2019-12-11. live.
  4. Web site: 2019 WTA Doubles Team of the Year: Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic. 2020-01-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20191211171125/https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1526946/2019-wta-doubles-team-of-the-year-timea-babos-kristina-mladenovic. 2019-12-11. live.
  5. Web site: 2019 WTA Most Improved Player of the Year: Sofia Kenin. 2020-01-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20191211171730/https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1526941/2019-wta-most-improved-player-of-the-year-sofia-kenin. 2019-12-11. live.
  6. Web site: 2019 WTA Newcomer of the Year: Bianca Andreescu. 2020-01-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20191211172358/https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1526933/2019-wta-newcomer-of-the-year-bianca-andreescu. 2019-12-11. live.
  7. Web site: 2019 WTA Comeback Player of the Year: Belinda Bencic. 2020-01-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20191211172717/https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1526929/2019-wta-comeback-player-of-the-year-belinda-bencic. 2019-12-11. live.
  8. Web site: 2019 Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award: Petra Kvitová. 2020-01-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20191211173802/https://www.wtatennis.com/videos/1525126/2019-karen-krantzcke-sportsmanship-award-petra-kvitova. 2019-12-11. live.
  9. Web site: 2019 WTA Tournament, Player and Coach award winners announced. 2020-01-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20191209170348/https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1524678/2019-wta-tournament-player-and-coach-award-winners-announced. 2019-12-09. live.
  10. Web site: 2019 Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award: Gabriela Dabrowski. 2020-01-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20191211173744/https://www.wtatennis.com/videos/1525121/2019-peachy-kellmeyer-player-service-award-gabriela-dabrowski. 2019-12-11. live.
  11. Web site: 2019 WTA Jerry Diamond ACES Award | Kiki Bertens. www.facebook.com.
  12. Web site: 2019 WTA Coach of the Year: The Nominations. 2020-01-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20191112103728/https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1487727/2019-wta-coach-of-the-year-the-nominations. 2019-11-12. live.
  13. Web site: Halep scores third straight WTA Fan Favorite win, teen phenom Swiatek a strong second. 2020-01-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20191220173939/https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1538910/halep-scores-third-straight-wta-fan-favorite-win-teen-phenom-swiatek-a-strong-second. 2019-12-20. live.
  14. Web site: Swiatek's deft dropshot crowned 2019 WTA Shot of the Year. 2020-01-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20191220232657/https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1539535/swiatek-s-deft-dropshot-crowned-2019-wta-shot-of-the-year. 2019-12-20. live.