Swiatek named 2022 WTA Player of the Year

The WTA will celebrate the standout performers of the 2022 season over the next few days as part of Awards Week, which kicks off Monday.

From Dec. 12 to 16, the WTA will honor this year’s best players, tournaments, coach and those athletes who have gone above and beyond to support the Hologic WTA Tour at every level.

The first of five Players Awards, three Player Service Awards in addition to the Coach of the Year Award on Monday were the first to be announced. Later this week, the WTA will reveal the Tournaments of the Year in their respective categories, with all winners being celebrated on social media and digital platforms in the coming days.

The 2022 WTA Player Award winners, as voted for by international tennis media, are:

Player of the Year:  Iga Swiatek

This is World No.1 Iga Swiatek’s first time winning the WTA Player of the Year. Swiatek, who won Newcomer of the Year in 2020, had an outstanding season in 2022, leading the way for finals reached, trophies won and matches won. She was crowned champion at eight tournaments, including winning six events in a row, including a 37-match winning streak.

Among those eight titles were two Grand Slams, at Roland Garros and the US Open, WTA 1000 titles at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open (Doha), BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells), the Miami Open presented Itaú, Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Rome) and WTA 500 titles at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart) and the San Diego Open. Overall, Swiatek won 67 matches this season.

Doubles Team of the Year: Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova

Barbora Krejcikova and doubles World No.1 Katerina Siniakova were awarded the Doubles Team of the Year for the second season in a row and third time overall. The Czech pairing won three titles in 2022, all coming at the majors — the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. They also reached the title match at the WTA Finals. Their title in New York secured them the career Grand Slam, a feat achieved by only six other doubles teams.

Most Improved Player of the Year: Beatriz Haddad Maia

Player who finished inside the Top 100 and showed significant improvement throughout the season

Beatriz Haddad Maia is the first Brazilian woman to win a WTA Player Awards since they were introduced in 1977. Her season was highlighted by a stellar sequence of results on grass, becoming the first woman to win the WTA 250 Rothesay Open Nottingham and WTA 250 Rothesay Classic Birmingham back-to-back, while also making the semifinals at WTA 500 Rothesay International Eastbourne.

She broke into the Top 20 for the first time following her run to the final at the WTA 1000 National Bank Open presented by Rogers (Toronto) in August and went on to post a new-career high ranking of No.15 as part of a memorable season.

Newcomer of the Year: Zheng Qinwen

Player who made Top 100 debut and/or notable accomplishments during the season

Zheng Qinwen rose over 100 places this season in the WTA Rankings, with a steady string of results over the year and broke into the Top 25 by the end of 2022. She reached her first WTA final at the WTA 500 Toray Pan Pacific Open (Tokyo), the semifinals of the WTA 250 Melbourne Summer Set 1, the last eight at the WTA 1000 level National Bank Open presented by Rogers (Toronto) and posting her best Grand Slam result by reaching the Round of 16 at Roland-Garros. Zheng Qinwen is the second Chinese woman win a WTA Player Award, after Zheng Jie earned the Comeback Player of the Year honor in 2008.

Comeback Player of the Year: Tatjana Maria

Player whose ranking previously dropped due to injury or personal reasons and current season’s results helped restore ranking

After taking time away from summer 2020 to July 2021 to give birth to her second child Cecilia, Tatjana Maria enjoyed a return to winning ways in 2022, triumphing at the WTA 250 Copa Colsanitas presented by Zurich (Bogota) as a qualifier to lift her second career title and first since 2018. She further cemented her comeback with a fairytale run to her first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon, before another semifinal at the WTA 250 Hana Bank Korea Open (Seoul) and making the last eight at WTA 250 Championnats Banque Nationale de Granby.

The winners of the 2022 WTA Player Service Awards, as voted for by WTA players, are:

Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award: Ons Jabeur

Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award for the first time in her career, voted by her athlete peers 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. Introduced in 1978, previous award winners include Petra Kvitova, Ana Ivanovic, Lindsay Davenport, Chris Evert and Evonne Goolagong-Cawley.

Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award: Gabriela Dabrowski

This is Gabriela Dabrowski’s third Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award, which was first been recognized in 2019, then again in 2020 when the honor was bestowed on the entire WTA Players’ Council that season, and now again in 2022. Gabriela has been celebrated in this category once again following her support to fellow players at all levels of the tour as well as wider WTA initiatives. Previous recipients include Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Pam Shriver.

Jerry Diamond ACES Award: Maria Sakkari

Named after former WTA CEO Jerry Diamond, the ACES Award this year recognizes Greece’s Maria Sakkari, who in 2022 consistently went above and beyond to promote the sport of women’s tennis to fans, media and local communities by performing off-court promotional activities. This honor, introduced in 1995, has previously been won by Angelique Kerber, Elina Svitolina and Kiki Bertens.

Coach of the Year, as voted on by WTA registered coaches: David Witt

David Witt, the current coach of Jessica Pegula, has been recognized for his player’s success on the court this season, in addition for serving as a great ambassador for the sport and bringing coaching to the forefront of the game. Under his guidance, Pegula, who started the year at No.18, enjoyed her best season in 2022, peaking in the rankings at No.3.

Pegula reached the first WTA 1000 level finals of her career at the Mutua Madrid Open and won the Guadalajara Open Akron, in addition to reaching the quarterfinals at three of the four Grand Slams.

The team also had success in doubles, winning five titles overall, including two at WTA 1000 tournaments at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open (Doha) and National Bank Open presented by Rogers (Toronto). Pegula capped off a fine year under Witt’s tutelage by qualifying in both singles and doubles for the WTA Finals in Fort Worth.