It’s tennis awards time, so we sat Gigi Salmon, Tim Henman, Laura Robson and Jonathan Overend across the table to discuss who’s up for the top honors in 2024.
There are six categories with ATP and WTA Tour winners, so without further ado, let’s get down to the awards…
WTA Player of the Year
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Aryna Sabalenka defeated Jessica Pegula in straight sets as she won the US Open for the first time in her career.
Robson: Arina Sabalenka. Winning the Aussie Open, winning the US Open, you can’t ask for much more.
Gigi: Sabalenka is number one at the end of the year for a reason. He is the best player in the world. He is happy on and off the court.
Henman. I agree with everything that has been said… so far!
Overend: It’s Arina Sabalenka, of course. Who else could it be? The only other candidate could be Jasmine Paolini.
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Sabalenka crashes Gigi and Robson to make sure they have good things to say about her at WTA Finals
ATP Player of the Year
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Yannick Sinner’s victory over Taylor Fritz in the final of the ATP Finals in Turin
Henman. Jannik Sinner won the Australian Open and the US Open, his Grand Slam breakthrough, and he was ranked No. 1 by quite a margin.
Overend: How he reached number 1 and then strengthened his position. We will see his competition with Carlos Alcaraz in 2025. The culprit is far away at the top of the rankings, not only in Grand Slam achievements, but also on the ATP tour.
To do what he did over the summer with everything that was going on in his life was very, very impressive.
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Watch Alcaraz and Sinner in a fun session of ATP Finals Who Knows Each Other Better?
Gigi: I also went for Sinner, but what really mattered to me was how he handled himself in the summer.
Robson: I went to Alcaraz just the summer he spent winning the French Open and Wimbledon.
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Sky Sports Tennis takes a look at Sinner’s eventful 2024…
ATP Match of the Year
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Highlights of the Japan Open final between Arthur Fils and Hugo Humbert
Overend: It was the Tokyo final between Arthur Fils and Hugo Humbert. The Phils beat No. 1 seed Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Holge Rooney. He somehow plays the part of his life to win the title.
Robson: I will go to the final of the Olympic Games with Novak Djokovic and Alcaraz. It was the best of the three I’ve ever seen. The spinning was out of control. Both were crying at the same time.
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Highlights of the record-breaking opening round between Dan Evans and Karen Khachanov from the US Open
Henman. I’m going to go with Daniel Evans and Karen Khachanov in that one. He was down two sets and then he just refused to give up. He was down 4-0 in the fifth and then won six games. This was the longest match in US Open history.
Gigi: I’m going Alcaraz beating Sinner in the Beijing final.They absolutely bring out the best in each other.
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Highlights of the China Open final between Carlos Alcaraz and Yannick Siner
WTA match of the year
Robson: I’m going with Paolini and Donna Vekic in the Wimbledon semis, a monster match.The other was Iga Sviatek and Sabalenka in the Madrid final.
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Highlights from incredible Madrid Open final between Iga Sviatek and Aryna Sabalenka
Gigi: I’ve also gone for Sviatek and Sabalenka in Madrid. I was stopped by the court for that and we just kept looking at each other thinking, “this is incredible, can it get any better?” But it kept getting better.
Henman. I love when those rivalries grow in sports, and that’s why it was my choice.
Overend: That was my choice too. I hope not, but I felt like it was the pinnacle of their rivalry.
ATP point of the year
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Shanghai Masters semi-final highlights between Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz.
Overend: I’ll give you one match where you could have picked any of the winning shots, the ridiculous 2-2 draw between Djokovic and Fritz in the Shanghai semifinals.
Robson: At the US Open, I went to Fritz and Alexander Zverev. I think it was the fourth game in the second set, and it was a brutal set.
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Hugo Gaston somehow hit an incredible backhand winner against Alex de Minaur…
Henman. I have to go with Sinner and Alcaraz from Miami. It looked like an arcade game.
Gigi: I went against Hugo Gaston against Alex de Minaur in Antwerp. It was watched millions of times.
WTA Point of the Year
Robson: I’m going for Karolina Muchova at the US Open. shot in the back I think it was against Kathy Wolinetz.
Henman. Muchova is one of my favorite players to watch. He is so versatile, so I agree with you.
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Karolina Muchova plays back and wins the point.
Gigi: I was on the line of Muchova and Volinets. I just hope Muchova stays fit and healthy.
Overend: We need more Taylor Townsend in our discussion. She played against Elena Rybakina in Miami.
ATP surprise of the year
Jacob Fearnley is now 89 years old after winning a string of ATP Challenger Tour titles in the world
Henman. Jacob Fearnley. He’s a top 100 player now, but I didn’t see it happening so quickly for him.
Overend: I thought this was the year Zverev was going to break his Grand Slam duck.
Robson: The Sinner drug test. It’s what everyone was talking about at the US Open.
Gigi: It was the bees of Indian Wells.
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Lance Davis, known as the “Bee Killer”, saved Indian Wells by swooping down on all the bees that had invaded the stadium’s main field.
WTA surprise of the year
Overend: Jasmine Paolini. He was 30, then won in Dubai, reached the French and Wimbledon finals, and won Olympic doubles gold.He is now a career-high No. 4.
Gigi: Yes, the same! That’s amazing and I really hope he continues his run in 2025.
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Jasmine Paolini came out of the fight and defeated Anna Kalinskaya in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championship.
Robson: Paolini has improved the most, but the surprise for me is Lulu Sun making it to the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Henman. Sonay Kartal winning the 250 and cracking the top 100. I thought that was just great.
Most Improved Player
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Vienna Open Final Highlights of Jack Draper and Karen Khachanov
Henman. It’s Jack Draper. I have no problem singing his praises. He really struggled with injuries last year, but he had some good results to finish 2023, but the way he went to win a tour title, the first Grand Slam semi-final in New York.
Robson: Considering last summer, he missed the entire grass season. He was so upset about it, but we can see what he’s capable of now, and he’s been able to do it consistently because he’s healthy, which is a great sign and can go on for a long time.
Gigi: Jack Draper to me and he is such a handsome young man.
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Highlights of thrilling US Open semi-final between Yannick Sinner and Jack Draper
Coach of the year
Jack Draper and coach James Trotman prepare for Wimbledon
Henman. I go “Trotters” – James Trotman puts in the hard yards when things aren’t going so well. He’s shown a wise head to make sure they’re moving in the right direction.
Overend: For Jack to say “I only like one voice, and that voice is going to be James Trotman,” that says a lot.
Tennis at Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sports City from December 18 to 22 is the start of the ATP Next Gen Finals from 2am on December 27, which will be held in Perth and Sydney ahead of the 2025 United Cup.
