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The 2022 WTA Awards were announced on Monday, with winners of major categories like Player of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year revealed to fans.
This year's nomination list saw a stacked line-up, with World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur, Caroline Garcia, Serena Williams, and Qinwen Zheng, among others, in the running to win the most prestigious awards. The awards were decided after voting by members of the international media, taking into account only their achievements in the calendar year.
On the first day (December 12), five player awards, three service awards and coach of the year were presented.
Here's the complete list of the winners:
WTA Player of the Year: Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek was bestowed with the 2022 WTA Player of the Year, the first time the World No. 1 has won the award. The Pole won eight titles this year, including two Grand Slams and four WTA 1000 events. Swiatek also recorded a 37-match win-streak, the longest unbeaten run in the 21st century.
Having ascended to the top of the rankings after Ashleigh Barty's retirement, the three-time Grand Slam champion kept hold of the position until the end of the year. To win the award, the 21-year-old beat out competition from Ons Jabeur, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Caroline Garcia and Elena Rybakina.
WTA Most Improved Player of the Year: Beatriz Haddad Maia
Given to the player who finishes inside the Top-100 and shows the most improvement throughout the year, the honor for 2022's Most Improved Player of the Year went to Beatriz Haddad Maia. Among the Brazilian's biggest results this season was reaching the final of the Canadian Open, where she lost out to Simona Halep in the summit clash.
Haddad Maia also became the first ever player to win the Nottingham and Birmingham Opens back-to-back, finishing the year at a career-high World No. 15. The 26-year-old beat out competition from the likes of Veronika Kudermetova, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Liudmila Samsonova and Ajla Tomljanovic to win the award.
WTA Newcomer of the Year: Qinwen Zheng
2022's Newcomer of the Year Award went to Qinwen Zheng, who ended the year at World No. 27 after starting the year outside the Top-100. Among several notable victories, the Chinese defeated former World No. 1 Simona Halep at the French Open and also reached her first final at the Tokyo Open.
Zheng became the second ever Chinese player to win a WTA Award, joining Zheng Jie, who won the 2008 Comeback Player of the Year honor. Zheng outlasted the likes of Linda Fruhvirtova, Julie Niemeier, Mayar Sherif, Laura Pigossi and Harriet Dart to take home the honor.
WTA Comeback Player of the Year: Tatjana Maria
Given to the player who makes the biggest rise over the year after having previously dropped out of the rankings due to injury or personal reasons, 2022's Comeback Player of the Year Award went to Tatjana Maria.
Maria broke into the Top-70 after staying out of the game for large parts of 2021 due to her second pregnancy and reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon Championships this season. She also won her second career title in 2022, winning the Bogota Open as a qualifier. The German withstood competition from Serena Williams, Daria Saville and Donna Vekic to win the award.
WTA Doubles Team of the Year: Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova
Doubles World No. 1 Katerina Siniakova and her partner Barbora Krejcikova were awarded the 2022 Doubles Team of the Year honor, thanks mainly to their triple Grand Slam triumph this season -- at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
By winning in New York, Siniakova and Krejcikova also became the second team in women's tennis history to complete the Career Grand Slam. The Czech duo beat out the likes of Veronika Kudermetova/Elise Mertens, Coco Gauff/Jessica Pegula, Gabriela Dabrowski/Giuliana Olmos and Lyudmyla Kichenok/Jelena Ostapenka to receive the honor.
Player Service Awards
World No. 2 Ons Jabeur won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award 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. The Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award went to Gabreila Dabrowski for the third time for "her support to fellow players at all levels of the tour as well as wider WTA initiatives."
Maria Sakkari, meanwhile, won the Jerry Diamond ACES Award for consistently going above and beyond to promote the sport of women’s tennis to fans, media and local communities by performing off-court promotional activities.
Coach of the Year: David Witt, current coach of Jessica Pegula
David Witt, who coached Jessica Pegula into the WTA Finals in both the singles and doubles categories in 2022, was awarded the Coach of the Year honor. Pegula also won the WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open at the end of the year to mark a very successful year.
Witt won over Tomasz Wiktorowski (Iga Swiatek's coach), Carlos Martinez (Daria Kasatkina's coach), Issam Jellali (Ons Jabeur's coach), Bertrand Perret (Caroline Garcia's coach), Corey Gauff/Diego Moyano (Coco Gauff's coach), Rafael Paciaroni (Beatriz Haddad Maia's coach) and Tom Hill (Maria Sakkari's coach).
