Ash Barty named WTA POTY, Emma Raducanu nets newcomer award

Barty
collected
the
tour’s
top
individual
year-end
award
in
2019,
having
won
the
French
Open
and
finished
that
season
as
the
world
number
one.

And
after
Sofia
Kenin
succeeded
her
in
2020,
Barty
is
back
on
top
this
year.

This
was
the
third
straight
season
the
Australian
superstar
claimed
the
year-end
number
one
ranking,
and
it
saw
her
land
a
second
major
title
at
Wimbledon.
Barty’s
five
WTA
titles
in
2021
were
unsurpassed.

But
she
has
had
to
share
the
limelight
in
recent
months
with
Raducanu,
and
that
was
the
case
again
as
the
19-year-old
Briton
was
unsurprisingly
hailed
as
the
tour’s
star
newcomer.

The
2021
WTA
Player
Awards

Recognizing
the
stand-out
performers
from
this
season,
as
voted
by
members
of
the
international
media

Starting
with
the
Newcomer
of
the
Year…

Teenage
US
Open
champion

@EmmaRaducanu!

pic.twitter.com/jMrhUPG3TX

—
wta
(@WTA)

December
7,
2021

Raducanu
became
the
first
qualifier
to
win
a
grand
slam
when
she
swept
to
glory
at
the
US
Open,
having
also
impressed
in
a
run
to
the
last
16
at
Wimbledon.

The
teenager,
who
has
risen
from
343rd
to
19th
in
the
rankings
in
the
past
year,
won
10
straight
matches
without
dropping
a
set
from
the
first
qualifying
round
to
the
final
at
Flushing
Meadows.

Elsewhere,
Roland
Garros
champion
Barbora
Krejcikova
collected
a
pair
of
awards,
scooping
Most
Improved
Player
and,
alongside
Olympic,
WTA
Finals
and
French
Open-winning
partner
Katerina
Siniakova,
the
Doubles
Team
of
the
Year.

Carla
Suarez
Navarro,
who
retired
in
2020
and
was
then
diagnosed
with
Hodgkin’s
Lymphoma,
returned
to
the
tour
cancer
free
in
2021
for
a
farewell
season
and
carried
off
the
Comeback
Player
of
the
Year
award.