The WTA announced the nominations for the WTA Player of the Year Award. Victoria Azarenka, Sofia Kenin, Naomi Osaka, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek are among the stars nominated for the WTA Player of the Year Award.
Sofia Kenin claimed her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in Melbourne. The 21-year-old US player beat World Number 1 Ashleigh Barty in the semifinal and two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza in the final after coming from one set down.
Kenin became the youngest US player to win a Grand Slam singles title since Serena Williams won at Wimbledon in 2002. She rose to world number 7 becoming the youngest US woman to make her top 10 debut in the WTA rankings since Serena Williams in 1999. Kenin won her second title at the inaugural Lyon Open. After the resumption of the WTA Tour Kenin reached her second Grand Slam final at Roland Garros, where she lost to Poland’s Iga Swatek.
Swiatek dropped just 23 games en route to winning her maiden Grand Slam title at Roland Garros. The Polish 19-year-old player broke into in the WTA Ranking for the first time in her career.
En route to the title Swiatek upset top seed Simona Halep dropping just three games. Swiatek became the first Polish player to win a singles Grand Slam title. The 23 games she lost in total were tied for the second-fewest among French Open singles champions in the Open Era behind only the 20 games Steffi Graf lost in 1988. Swiatek, who was ranked world number 50, rose to world number 17. She is nominated for WTA Most Improved Player for the Year award.
World number 3 Naomi Osaka claimed the third Grand Slam title of her career and her second US Open trophy and reached the final at the Western and Southern Open in New York, but she had to withdraw because of a left harmstring injury.
Viktoria Azarenka claimed her biggest title since she gave birth to her son Leo at the Western and Southern Open in New York and reached her first Grand Slam final since 2013 at the US Open with a win over 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams.
Simona Halep started the 2020 season with her 20th career title in Dubai. Last August the Romanian player won her 21st title at the Prague Open beating Elise Mertens in the final. In Rome Halep beat Garbine Muguruza in a thrilling three-set semifinal and an injured Karolina Pliskova in the final. Aryna Sabalenka tied Halep for most WTA titles in 2020. The Belarusian player claimed her third career Premier 5 title in Doha and ended the season on a nine-match winning streak claiming two consecutive titles in Ostrava and Linz.
