The past 12 months on the women’s Tour has seen plenty of highs and lows for the world’s best players. Ubitennis takes an in-depth look at those who have managed to excel in the sport this year.
Players of the Year
Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka successfully defended her Australian Open title and won the US Open title in 2024. She also won two WTA 1000 titles in Cincinnati and Wuhan. The Belarusian also finished runner-up in two back-to-back WTA 1000 finals in Madrid and Rome and reached the WTA 500 final in Brisbane.
At the start of the year, Sabalenka defended her Australian Open title with a 6-3 6-2 win over China’s Zheng Qinwen. Sabalenka became the first player since Serena Williams in 2007 to win the Australian Open title without dropping a set during the tournament. She has won 28 of her past 29 sets in Melbourne Park, including her title in 2023.
Aryna Sabalenka: “I am speechless. I don’t know how to describe my emotions, but definitely, I am super happy and proud of everything I have been able to achieve so far. I am just happy with the level I played today. She is a great player and a very tough opponent. I am super happy that I was able to get this win today”.
Sabalenka won her first at the US Open by beating US player Jessica Pegula 7-5 7-5 in 1 hour and 53 minutes.
“New York is a very special place for me. I had a lot of tough losses in the past. I was always hoping that I would be able to win this beautiful trophy. It was always my dream. That’s why it’s very special, because every time I was coming back stronger, and I was learning, I never gave up on this dream. It means a lot”.
Sabalenka recaptured the WTA number 1 Ranking in October and ended the year as the world number 1 player, receiving the world number 1 trophy during the WTA Finals in Ryadh.
Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek won five titles in 2024, the most of any player on the WTA Tour. The Pole won her third consecutive title at Roland Garros and four WTA 1000 titles in Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome. She became the first Polish player to win an Olympic medal with her bronze in Paris. Swiatek spent 32 weeks as the World number 1, moving her overall tally to 125 weeks (seventh on the all-time list).
Swiatek beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2 6-1 in the final of Roland Garros in 1 hour and 8 minutes to become the first player to win three consecutive titles in any of the four Grand Slam tournaments since Serena Williams won the US Open from 2012 to 2014.
Iga Swiatek: “This tournament has been pretty surreal with its beginning and with the second round, and then I was able to get my game better and better every match. I am really proud of myself because the expectations have been pretty high from the outside. I am happy that I just went for it and I was ready to deal with all of this. Looking at the whole situation and the fact that during the finals there is sometimes a lot of pressure, I think it was a really good match. I was broken at the beginning, so it was not maybe perfect, but I think the level was pretty high. It wasn’t so easy as the score says. I think I played pretty well considering all these facts and the pressure”.
The queen of the WTA Finals: Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff beat Zhen Qinwen 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-2) after 3 hours and 4 minutes in the championship match to win the WTA Finals title in Riyadh, five years after making her debut as a 15-year-old player on the WTA Tour.
Gauff became the youngest player in 18 years to beat the world number 1 (Sabalenka) and world number 2 (Swiatek) at the same event. She has become the first US player to win the WTA Finals since Serena Williams in 2014.
The US player also claimed two more titles at the WTA 1000 in Beijing and the WTA 250 in Auckland, when she defended a title for the first time in her career.
Gauff now owns at least one title at every tour level.
After a Round of 16 defeat at the US Open Gauff won 12 of the last 14 matches this year.
Coco Gauff: “Just staying resilient, fighting for every point. I know I was like a couple points away from losing, but I just tried to stay at the moment. At the end of the match, when I fell on the floor, I did not think I was going to do that. I made a promise to myself that I will only save it for Grand Slams, but honestly to the way the match went, I was so tired that I just wanted to lay on the ground”.
The breakthrough of the season: Jasmine Paolini
Jasmine Paolini won the biggest title of her career at the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai more than two years after her first trophy in Portoroz. She also reached two Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. She became the first woman to reach both the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals in the same season since Serena Williams in 2016. Paolini finished runner-up to Iga Swiatek in the French Open final and to Barbora Krejcikova in the Wimbledon title match.
Paolini came back from one set down to beat Donna Vekic 2-6 6-4 7-6 (8-6) after 2 hours and 51 minutes in an epic semifinal match at Wimbledon to become the first Italian woman to reach a singles final at this Grand Slam tournament.
“It was a really tough semifinal match. Vekic played unbelievably. She was hitting winners everywhere. I was struggling at the beginning, I was just repeating to myself to fight for every ball and to try to improve a little bit on the court, but I am so happy with the win. I think I will remember this match forever”.
She also reached the Round of 16 at the Australian Open and at the US Open which is her best result at these Grand Slam tournaments. She became the first Italian player to qualify for the WTA Finals in ten years. She broke into the top 10 for the first time, ending the season as the world number 4 player and winning the Billie Jean King Cup for Italy.
Paolini was born in Castelnovo di Garfagnana and grew up between Carrara and Forte dei Marmi in Tuscany. Her father Ugo is Italian and her mother is of Polish and Ghanaian descent. Her maternal grandmother lives in Lodz and her maternal grandfather is Ghanaian and lives in Copenhagen. Her younger brother also plays tennis.
“When I was young, my mother was speaking to me in Polish. Now I can speak Polish, but I also forgot some words”, said Paolini.
The Olympic queen: Zheng Qinwen
Zheng Qinwen reached five finals during the 2024 season at the age of 22. The Chinese player won the Olympic singles gold medal in Paris, as well as two titles at WTA 500 in Tokyo and WTA 250 in Palermo.
Zheng beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-2 6-3 on Court Phillipe Chatrier at Roland Garros in Paris to become the first Asian player, male or female, to win an Olympic gold medal in singles.
Zheng completed an impressive week in which she won two consecutive matches against Emma Navarro in the Round of 16 after saving a match point and former world number 1 Angelique Kerber in the quarter-finals.
During a successful season, Zheng also finished runner-up at her first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, at the WTA 1000 in Wuhan, and at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. She also reached the semifinal at the WTA 1000 in Beijing. She broke into the top 10 after the Australian Open final and ended the season at world number 5.
Zheng Qinwen: “I remember in the quarter-finals, in the semifinal, my hands were shaking during the match. After the Olympic Games, I never had those feelings anymore. My hand is not shaking during the WTA 1000 final in Wuhan at least”.
Doubles teams of the year
Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe
The new team formed by Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe won the WTA Finals in Riyadh and the WTA 250 title in Nottingham.
Dabrowski and Routliffe beat Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova 7-5 6-3 in the championship match at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, avenging their previous defeat against the US and Czech team in the Wimbledon final. Dabrowski and Routliffe also bounced back from their defeat against Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez by beating them in the semifinal at the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
Dabrowski won the 16th doubles title of her career, while Routliffe claimed the 8th trophy.
Erin Routliffe: “We have been through a lot this year. We have always stuck by each other and really committed to each other. I think it is an accumulation of the entire year, and it means a lot”.
Dabrowski became the first Canadian player to win a WTA Finals title.
Dabrowski and Routliffe also finished runner-up in four finals at Wimbledon, Miami, Toronto and Eastbourne. They reached four semifinals at the Australian Open, Dubai, Osaka and Tokyo, as well as two quarter-finals at the US Open and Wuhan.
Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend
The Czech and US pairing formed by Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend teamed up for the first time at Rome 2024 and claimed the Wimbledon doubles title. They reached the title match at the WTA Finals in Riyadh without losing a match. They beat number 1 seeds Lyudmila Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko and number 3 seeds Hsieh-su Wei and Elise Mertens.
Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini
The all-Italian doubles team formed by Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani won the Olympic gold medal in Paris. Errani and Paolini became the first Italian tennis players in history to win the Olympic gold medal in any tennis event, beating Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider in the final. With the Olympic gold medal, Errani completed the Career Golden Slam in women’s doubles. She teamed up with Roberta Vinci to win all four Grand Slam titles between 2012 and 2014.
Jasmine Paolini: “It was not easy after the first set. We just wanted to do better in the second set. It’s so important. We gave everything and we got the gold medals”
Errani and Paolini won three WTA titles in Rome, Linz and Beijing, reached the final at Roland Garros, the semifinals at Miami and the quarter-finals in Cincinnati.
They beat Coco Gauff and Erin Routliffe in the Rome WTA 1000 final on home soil.
Sara Errani: “It’s a dream come true to win at Foro Italico in Rome. I could not be more happy than this. Winning here, it’s crazy. We were like 7-5 4-0 down in the first round. Winning this tournament is incredible. I am so happy and proud of us”.
At the China Open Paolini and Errani defeated Chan-Hao-ching and Veronika Kudemertova in the final becoming the first Italian doubles champions at the tournament.
The come-back of the year
Paula Badosa
Paula Badosa ended her 2023 season after Wimbledon due to a back injury. The Spanish player made her come-back at the start of the 2024 season and achieved good results by winning the fourth title of her career at the WTA level and the first in over two years in Washington with a three-set win over Marie Bouzkova 6-1 4-6 6-4. Badosa entered the tournament ranked world number 62 and left Washington ranked inside the top 50 for the first time since August 2023.
Paula Badosa: “Especially what I went through the last year, for me being back, winning big titles like a 500 for me it means a lot. That’s why I had this mix of emotions. I was really nervous because I really wanted it bad”.
Badosa also reached the semifinals at Cincinnati, Beijing and the quarter-finals at the US Open where she lost to to Emma Navarro.
Karolina Muchova
Karolina Muchova reached her second consecutive US Open semifinal with a 6-1 6-4 win over Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia in 1 hour and 25 minutes in what was just her sixth event since returning to the WTA Tour at the grass tournament in Eastbourne in June. Muchova advanced to the US Open semifinal in 2023 but she was sidelined for nine months as she underwent wrist surgery.
Karolina Muchova: “It was a weird match against Haddad Maia. I am happy I managed to reach the semifinal. I have been through a lot of injuries. The last one, the wrist injury was one of the worst ones that I had”.
The Czech player reached the finals in Palermo and Beijing and the semifinal in Ningbo.
Most improved player of the year
Emma Navarro
Emma Navarro started her 2024 season with a semifinal in Auckland and her first WTA title in Hobart. The US player reached the semifinals in San Diego, Bad Homburg, Toronto, Monterrey and at the US Open. Her first Grand Slam quarter-final was at Wimbledon, her first third round at the Australian Open and her first fourth round at Roland Garros. She beat Coco Gauff at both the US Open and Wimbledon, and Aryna Sabalenka at Indian Wells. At the US Open, she came back from 1-5 down in the second set to beat Paula Badosa 6-2 7-5 by winning the final six games of the quarter-final to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal.
Emma Navarro: “Sometimes you are out in the court, and you can picture yourself playing a third set. When I was out there, I did not picture myself playing a third set. Although I was 1-5 down in the second set, I felt like I could come back and win in two sets”.
Danielle Collins
Danielle Collins won her first WTA 1000 title in Miami and went on to clinch a WTA 500 title in Charleston. Collins hit a backhand crosscourt winner on her fourth match point to beat Elena Rybakina 7-5 6-3. The US player claimed the third title of her career and the first since San José in 2021.
Danielle Collins: “That game took a lot out of me and Elena was pushing me all around the court. I have played a lot of tennis, a few finals and nothing close to this. In my home state, to come out in front of thousands of my best friends pushing me to get over this hurdle. I was getting emotional. It was an incredible environment. I have never experienced anything like this”.
The two-time NCAA champion came through the qualifying round to reach the quarter-final in Doha and advanced to the semifinal in Rome, the final in Strasbourg and the quarter-final at the Olympic Games in Paris. Collins started the season ranked world number 54 and returned to the top 10 for the first time since August 2022.
The newcomer of the year: Diana Shnaider
Russian player Diana Shnaider won her first four career titles on different surfaces in Hua Hin on a hard court, Bad Homburg on grass, Budapest on clay and Hong Kong on a hard court. In Hong Kong, where she was the top seed, Schnaider beat defending champion and third seed Leylah Fernandez to reach the final where she defeated second seed Katie Boulter in straight sets.
Diana Shnaider: “Four is my favorite number. I was born on 2 of April and I just love those combinations with two and four. Obviously, it’s the season of 2024. There are crazy circumstances like the Hua Hin title I won was happening for the fourth year. Then I won in Bad Homburg and that was happening for the fourth year. The number keeps following me. I guess it’s like a lucky charm for me”.
Shnaider beat Coco Gauff to achieve her first top-10 win at the WTA 1000 in Toronto. She reached the semifinals in Toronto, Seoul, Tokyo and the quarter-finals in Birmingham. She won the WTA 125 in Paris and reached the final at the WTA 125 in Charleston. She claimed the Olympic silver medal in the doubles tournament in Paris with Mirra Andreeva. She started the season at world number 97 and finished it at world number 13 after reaching a career-high of world number 12.
The team of the year: Italy
The Italian team captained by Tathiana Garbin won their fifth Billie Jean King Cup title in history by beating Slovakia 2-0 in the final in Malaga following their previous triumphs in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013.
Italy beat Japan in the quarter-final, a Polish team led by Iga Swiatek in the semifinal and Slovakia in the final avenging their defeat against Canada in the 2023 edition of the Billie Jean King Cup.
Italy became the fifth nation to win both the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup in the same season after the United States (who achieved this feat seven times in 1963, 1969, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1990), Australia (three times in 1964, 1965 and 1965 and 1973), Czech Republic (2012) and Russia (2021).
Italy has become only the sixth nation to win five or more times.
Jasmine Paolini sealed the victory in the final with a 6-2 6-1 win over Viktoria Sramkova after Lucia Bronzetti had put the Italian team in the lead with a 6-2 6-4 over Slovakia’s Viktoria Hruncakova. Sara Errani won the Billie Jean Cup title for the fourth time in her career.
Jasmine Paolini: “It was an unbelievable year. To finish like this, a title in the Billie Jean Cup, it’s amazing. I don’t have words to describe it. I am really happy that we could bring the trophy home”.
The best WTA matches of the year:
Madrid Mutua Open final: Iga Swiatek beats Aryna Sabalenka 7-5 4-6 7-6 (9-7)
Iga Swiatek battled past defending champion Aryna Sabalenka 7-5 4-6 7-6 (9-7) in their 10th career head-to-head match and their first of the season in a hard-fought final at the Madrid Mutua Open after 3 hours and 11 minutes. Swiatek saved three championship points. The 22-year-old Polish player won the 20th title of her career and her third trophy of the season. She has become the youngest player to reach 20 titles since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2012.
Swiatek won two WTA 1000 titles in Rome and four Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros, collecting all major trophies on clay. At 22 years old, Swiatek has become the youngest player to win eight WTA clay court titles since Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 1994.
Swiatek leads 8-4 in her head-to-head matches against Sabalenka.
After a trade of breaks at the start of the match, both players exchanged eight holds of serve before Swiatek earned the break to take a 6-5 lead. The Polish player held serve from 0-30 to clinch the first set.
Sabalenka earned an immediate break to take a 2-0 lead at the start of the second set. Swiatek broke straight back. Sabalenka broke for the second time, but Swiatek pulled back on serve before holding serve to draw level to 3-3. Swiatek made a double fault at 30-15 as she was serving at 4-5 down. Sabalenka broke serve with two winners to win the second set forcing the match to the third set.
Sabalenka broke Swiatek with a forehand winner to take a 3-1 lead at the start of the third set. Swiatek broke at 15. Sabalenka broke back to take a 5-4 lead before Swiatek held serve to draw level at 5-5.
Swiatek saved two championship points to hold serve, as she was serving to take the match to the decisive tie-break. Sabalenka earned the first mini-break to take a 4-3 lead in the tie-break of the decisive set, but Swiatek pulled back on serve with a deep return on the next point. Swiatek earned the first match point at 6-5 after Sabalenka pushed a forehand long, but Sabalenka saved it with her fourth ace of the match. Sabalenka earned her third match point at 7-6 but she missed her backhand long. Swiatek earned her second championship point after another Sabalenka error. Swiatek converted it when Sabalenka sent another backhand long.
Iga Swiatek: “For sure when I look back in a few years, it will mean a lot. For now, I am just happy that I won this tournament anyway. It does not matter if I won it before or not. I try to win each tournament that I play. In the end, I don’t know what made a difference. I think we both deserved to win. I think it was about these little points in the tie-break”.
Australian Open second round: Anna Blinkova beats Elena Rybakina 6-4 4-6 7-6 (22-20)
Anna Blinkova stunned Elena Rybakina 6-4 4-6 7-6 (22-20) after 2 hours and 46 minutes in one of the biggest upsets of the season in the second round of the Australian Open. Blinkova saved six match points in an epic 30-minute tie-break featuring 42 points before converting on her 10th match point to advance to the third round of the Australian Open for the first time. It was the longest tie-break in Grand Slam history.
Blinkova claimed the best win of her career by ranking. She scored her second top 5 win in one year after beating Caroline Garcia in three sets at Roland Garros in 2023.
Anna Blinkova: “I will remember this day for the rest of my life. Especially on this court, with this crowd. I will never forget it. It’s the best day of my life so far”.
