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Serena & Hingis: The Only Two To Do This

Serena & Hingis: The Only Two To Do This

  • Posted: Dec 10, 2015

Two of the WTA’s biggest legends – Serena Williams and Martina Hingis – were both among the WTA Award winners that were announced earlier this week, Williams being voted 2015 WTA Player Of The Year and Hingis part of the 2015 WTA Doubles Team Of The Year, alongside Sania Mirza.

It wasn’t their first time winning those specific WTA Awards, but still a fantastic finish to 2015.

But they’ve both won WTA Player Of The Year before. And WTA Doubles Team Of The Year, WTA Newcomer Of The Year, WTA Most Improved Player Of The Year and WTA Comeback Of The Year.

They’re the only two players ever to win each and every one of the five biggest WTA Awards:

Martina Hingis
WTA Player Of The Year – 1997
WTA Doubles Team Of The Year – 1998 (w/Novotna), 1999 (w/Kournikova), 2015 (w/Mirza)
WTA Newcomer Of The Year – 1995
WTA Most Improved Player Of The Year – 1996
WTA Comeback Of The Year – 2006

Serena Williams
WTA Player Of The Year – 2002, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
WTA Doubles Team Of The Year – 2000 (w/V.Williams), 2009 (w/V.Williams)
WTA Newcomer Of The Year – 1998
WTA Most Improved Player Of The Year – 1999
WTA Comeback Of The Year – 2004

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Another one of this year’s winners, Venus Williams, has four of the five – WTA Newcomer Of The Year in 1997, WTA Player Of The Year in 2000, WTA Doubles Team Of The Year in 2000 and 2009, and WTA Comeback Player Of The Year this year. She’s missing WTA Most Improved Player Of The Year.

And Hingis’ doubles partner, Mirza, picked up the WTA Newcomer Of The Year award back in 2005.

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Safarova's Stellar Service Award

Safarova's Stellar Service Award

  • Posted: Dec 10, 2015

Reaching her first Grand Slam final at the French Open and playing at the WTA Finals are just some the highlights of Lucie Safarova’s 2015 season. She also scooped up two Grand Slam doubles titles with Bethanie Mattek-Sands and achieved her career highest ranking – but in between it all the Czech always finds time to give back to the player community.

As a result of her work in the WTA Player Council, Safarova was awarded the 2015 Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award for the second year in a row, another accolade to add to her already stellar year.

Selected by player vote, the Player Service Award is given each year to the player who has done the most for her fellow players through her efforts in the Player Council or any other initiatives. Previous winners include Kim Clijsters, Liezel Huber, Nicole Pratt, Francesca Schiavone, Pam Shriver and Venus Williams.

The Players’ Council consists of eight selected players on the tour that advocate player interests and handle grievances, changes in the tennis schedule and other concerns. Safarova is a part of the council in the 1-20 Ranking Category, alongside Samantha Stosur, Serena Williams and Venus Williams. She’s served on the Council since 2009, earning the respect of her peers through her willingness to help.

Click here for a complete list of winners in the 2015 WTA Player and Tournament Awards.

 

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WTA Insider Podcast: Award Winners

WTA Insider Podcast: Award Winners

  • Posted: Dec 09, 2015

On Episode 10, WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen reviews the winners of the 2015 WTA Awards, which were just announced this week. It’s a top-notch slate of deserving recipients that include Player of the Year Serena Williams, Doubles Team of the Year Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza, and Comeback Player of the Year Venus Williams.

You’ll also hear from 2015’s Most Improved Player, Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky, who talks about her breakout season, which saw her make her first Slam semifinal at her beloved French Open and finish the season at No.12. Always philosophical and grounded in her perspective, Bacsinszky talks about her quick yet steady rise, her struggle to deal with the increased attention back home in Switzerland, and why she’s flourishing in what she considers her “third” career.

“The comeback is over,” Bacsinszky says on the podcast. “It was the second career. Now I’m starting my third career, because I would obviously like to last long, to be healthy, and still enjoy playing.”

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on any podcast app of your choice. Reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, do leave us one. You can also get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider.

You can also catch up on previous episodes of the WTA Insider podcast featuring other 2015 WTA Award Winners, such as Venus Williams and Petra Kvitova.

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Vote Now: WTA Social Fan Favorites

  • Posted: Dec 09, 2015

Who’s your favorite player, what was your favorite match of the year and of course who took the best selfie this year? Click here to vote for those and many more!

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Happy Holidays From The ATP

  • Posted: Dec 09, 2015

Happy Holidays From The ATP

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Serena Williams: WTA Player Of The Year

Serena Williams: WTA Player Of The Year

  • Posted: Dec 09, 2015

From winning three of the four Grand Slams to holding No.1 from start to finish and an historic lead at that top ranking for six weeks in the summer, it comes as no surprise that Serena Williams has been voted WTA Player Of The Year, her fourth straight and seventh overall time receiving the honor.

Williams won her 19th, 20th and 21st majors at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, and coupled with her 2014 US Open title she completed a Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam, her second self-stylized Serena Slam. Her first ran from 2002 Roland Garros to the 2003 Australian Open.

Her dominance of the tour was so great that she made WTA Rankings history in the summer, too. For six weeks she actually had over twice as many ranking points as the No.2, something that had never happened before – Maria Sharapova was that No.2 for three weeks, Simona Halep the other three.

But the Grand Slams and historic ranking points lead are just the tip of the iceberg on the World No.1’s season. Her overall record was a sensational 53-3 – she won two more big WTA titles at Miami (a Premier Mandatory) and Cincinnati (a Premier 5), the only losses coming in the Madrid semifinals (Petra Kvitova), the Toronto semifinals (Belinda Bencic) and the US Open semifinals (Roberta Vinci).

Williams also pocketed $10,582,642 in 2015, second only to her own $12,385,572 from 2013.

“One of the factors for my results is just me being free and really enjoying the game, just really enjoying every time I’m out there,” Williams said after winning Wimbledon. “Not that I didn’t enjoy it before, but these last eight Grand Slams have come after I got really sick, and I have a different outlook on life now. Even though I’m super intense on the tennis court all the time, I have more fun now.”

And when asked during the summer about her personal highlights, Williams didn’t just point to her on-court wins – she also pointed to her emotional return to a massive tournament she once dominated.

“I think Indian Wells was pretty amazing,” she said, referring to her comeback to the BNP Paribas Open for the first time in 14 years and reaching the semifinals before withdrawing due to a knee injury.

“And I think Serena Slam 2.0 – winning Wimbledon – was pretty awesome, too.”

Williams has now won WTA Player Of The Year seven times in her career – 2002, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. She’s now tied with Martina Navratilova (seven) and trails only Steffi Graf (eight).

Though she had to wrap her season up after the US Open, Williams heads into the 2016 season as a clear favorite to keep piling on the majors – she’s just one away from tying Graf’s Open Era record.


This award was voted for by media and fans. Williams won the media vote with 79% (Garbiñe Muguruza next with 12%); Agnieszka Radwanska won the fan vote with 52% (Williams next with 37%).

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