The WTA has revealed the winners of five WTA Player Awards: Player of the Year, Doubles team of the year, Most Improved player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and Comeback of the year.
WTA Player of the Year: Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka has been voted by WTA as the Player of the Year for the first time in her career. The 25-year-old player from Belarus reached seven WTA Tour finals and won five titles. She won the Australian Open for the second year in a row and won her first US Open title. She also won two WTA 1000 titles in Cincinnati and Wuhan and finished runner-up in two back-to-back WTA 1000 finals in Madrid and Rome and in the WTA 500 final in Brisbane. She ended the season in the year-end number 1 position following her fourth consecutive qualification for the WTA Finals.
Doubles team of the year: Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini
Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini won the Olympic doubles gold medal, two WTA 1000 titles in Rome on home soil and in Beijing, the WTA 500 title in Linz. They reached their first Grand Slam final as a team at Roland Garros, made their team debut at the WTA Finals in Riyadh and crowned the season with the win at the Billie Jean King Cup.
Most improved player of the Year: Emma Navarro
Emma Navarro won her first WTA title in Hobart and reached six semifinals in San Diego (WTA 500), paris (WTA 125), Bad Homburg (WTA 500), Toronto (WTA 1000), Monterrey (WTA 500), US Open (Grand Slam): She scored three top 5 win against Aryna Sabalenka in Indian Wells, Coco Gauff at Wimbledon and the US Open. She lost to Sabalenka in the US Open semifinal. She reached the top 10 for the first time in her career in September.
Newcomer of the year: Lulu Sun
Lulu Sun was ranked outside the top 200 last October and ended the season at world number 40. She qualified for the Grand Slam main draw at the Australian Open. She scored her first top 10 win over Zheng Qinwen en route to the Wimbledon quarter final as a qualifier becoming the first player from New Zealand to reach the Round of 8 in the Open Era. She advanced to her first final at the WTA 500 in Monterrey. She reached the career-high of world number 39.
Comeback of the year: Paula Badosa
Former world number 2 Paula Badosa ended the 2023 season after Wimbledon due to a back injury. She returned to her best form when she reached the Round of 16 in Rome on clay before advancing to the third round at Roland Garros. The 26-year-old Spanish player won the fourth title of her career in Washington and reached the semifinals at the WTA 1000 tournaments in Cincinnati and in Beijing and at the WTA 500 in Ningbo. She equalled her best result at Grand Slam level when she reached the quarter final at the US Open.
