2024 WTA Awards: NBO Power Rankings Panel’s…

Skip to main content directly

Season’s end is a time to sit back and think about everything that went on during the 2024 tennis season. Of course, a part of that is honouring the top performers of the year.

The WTA just released their awards for the 2024 season, but does the National Bank Open Power Rankings panel agree with their decisions?

Here are our choices for 2024 WTA Awards.

Singles Player of the Year: Aryna Sabalenka

Record: 56-14
Titles: 4
Biggest Title: Australian Open, US Open
Year-End Ranking: 1

2024 was the year when Aryna Sabalenka finally wrestled control of the WTA Tour away from Iga Swiatek. Despite having briefly held the No. 1 ranking in late 2023, it was over the last 12 months that the 26-year-old firmly established herself as the world’s best player.

While she was particularly dominant on hard courts, winning both majors on the surface as well as two WTA 1000 titles in Cincinnati and Wuhan, Sabalenka was an all-surface threat in 2024. She reached both WTA 1000 finals on clay in Madrid and Rome, losing to Swiatek both times although the Madrid final was an all-time epic decided in a third-set tiebreak. She also reached the quarter-finals of Roland-Garros.

Sabalenka rose to the occasion in 2024 on the biggest stages, going 18-1 in Grand Slam events and reaching the quarter-finals or better at the last six WTA 1000 events of the year, closing out the season by reaching the semifinals of the WTA Finals. She finished more than 1000 points ahead of Swiatek for the top spot in the rankings.

Other Vote-Getters: Jasmine Paolini

Actual WTA Award Winner: Aryna Sabalenka

Doubles Team of the Year: Gabriela Dabrowski/Erin Routliffe

Record: 39-14
Titles: 2
Biggest Title: WTA Finals
Year-End Ranking:
- As a team: 2nd in the race to the WTA Finals (although once WTA Finals are added, they finished with the most points of any team in 2024)
- Routliffe: 2
- Dabrowski: 3

Despite not adding a second major title to their haul in 2024, Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe were one of the most consistent tandems on the WTA Tour this year.

They reached the quarter-finals or better at all three majors they played, including getting to the title match at Wimbledon, as well as at four of the seven WTA 1000 events they participated in. That includes the National Bank Open in Toronto where they reached the final. The Canadian/Kiwi team saved their best for last, winning the title at the WTA Finals.

Their victory made Dabrowski the first Canadian woman ever to lift a trophy at the year-end championships.

Including their victory at the WTA Finals, Dabrowski and Routliffe finished with more points than any other team on the WTA Tour, a feat made even more impressive given that the Canadian skipped the entire clay-court season, including two WTA 1000 events and Roland-Garros.

Overall, they reached six finals in 2024 and won two titles, Riyadh in November and the 250 event in Nottingham on grass in June.

Other Vote-Getters: Katerina Siniakova/Taylor Townsend, Sara Errani/Jasmine Paolini, Jelena Ostapenko/Liudmila Kichenok

Actual WTA Award Winner: Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini

Newcomer of the Year: Lulu Sun

Record: 38-19
Best Result: WTA 500 Monterrey Runner-Up, Wimbledon Quarter-Final as Qualifier
Year-End Ranking: 40 (+179)

2024 was the first year of Lulu Sun’s career where she spent most of the season on the WTA main tour and she certainly made an impression. The season was full of firsts for the 23-year-old from New Zealand, starting with coming through qualifying to make her Grand Slam debut right at the start of the year at the Australian Open.

At Wimbledon, Sun truly announced herself to the world coming through qualifying again and then reaching the quarter-finals, a run of seven straight wins on the hallowed lawns of the All-England Club (seven matches in normally enough to win a major, but she had to win three in qualies). That run included victories over world No. 8 Qinwen Zheng, her first Top 10 win, and former US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

Sun spent the rest of her season on the main tour and reached her first tour-level final at the WTA 500 event in Monterrey.

Other Vote-Getter: Erika Andreeva

Actual WTA Award Winner: Lulu Sun

Comeback Player of the Year: Amanda Anisimova

Record: 21-13
Best Result: WTA 1000 National Bank Open Toronto Runner-Up
Year-End Ranking: 39 (+320)

Anisimova returned to the WTA Tour in January after a seven-month break from the sport, having cited burnout and mental health reasons for stepping away. Her first-round win in Auckland was her first match win in nearly 11 months.

The former world No. 21 started to pick up her pace on the clay before really hitting her stride in the summer. First, she reached the quarter-finals as a qualifier in Washington in July and then went on a tear in Toronto.

At the National Bank Open, she won her first five matches, including four over Top 10 opponents, most notably then-world No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets, on her way to the biggest final of her career so far, also her first final since January 2022. While she came up short against the red-hot defending champion Jessica Pegula, she still forced the soon-to-be US Open finalist to three sets.

Having started the year outside the Top 350, the 23-year-old finished 2024 just inside the Top 40.

Other Vote-Getters: Paula Badosa, Karolina Muchova, Emma Raducanu

Actual WTA Award Winner: Paula Badosa

Most Improved Player of the Year: Diana Shnaider:

Record: 55-23
Titles: 4
Best Result: WTA 500 Bad Homburg Champion, WTA 1000 National Bank Open Toronto Semifinalist
Year-End Ranking: 13 (+47)

Only one player on the WTA Tour won titles on all three surfaces in 2024: Diana Shnaider.

In her first full year on tour, the 20-year-old quickly established herself as a force to be reckoned with. The first title was on hard courts in Hua Hin in February. She added a grass win in Bad Homburg in June and less than a month later was a champion on clay in Budapest to complete the surface sweep.

Having made her WTA 1000 debut in Indian Wells in March, Shnaider had her best showing at a big tournament in Toronto, reaching the semifinals of the National Bank Open. That run included a third-round demolition of top seed and world No. 2 Coco Gauff.

Shnaider also ended the year with bang, winning her final tournament in Hong Kong. Only Iga Swiatek won more titles in 2024 than the 20-year-old.

Other Vote-Getters: Emma Navarro, Jasmine Paolini*, Danielle Collins

Actual WTA Award Winner: Emma Navarro

*Asterisk denotes write-in candidate, was not nominated for the WTA’s actual award.

The National Bank Open Power Rankings are a group collaboration by the Power Rankings Panel which includes:

Pete Borkowski – Content Editor, Tennis Canada
Melissa Boyd – Content Writer, Tennis Canada
Sarah-Jade Champagne – Content Specialist, Tennis Canada
Edward Lee – Content Contributor, Tennis Canada
Ben Lewis – Host, Match Point Canada
Hugues Leger – Producer, Podcast Sur La Ligne
Mike McIntyre – Host, Match Point Canada
Abraham Santerre – Content Creator, Podcast Sur La Ligne
Patrick Steski - Content Contributor, Tennis Canada
Charlotte Robillard-Millette - Content Contributor, Tennis Canada

Best WTA Tour Moment of 2024:

Pete: Aryna Sabalenka meeting her mini-me at the US Open
Mel: Aryna Sabalenka dominating the hard-court majors, winning both with the loss of just one set.
Eddie: The epic Madrid final between Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka
Mike: Aryna Sabalenka taking over the No. 1 ranking
Ben: Coco Gauff beating Qinwen Zheng in the match of the year in the final of the WTA Finals.
Sarah-Jade: Danielle Collins (mic drop)
Hugues: Aryna Sabalenka taking over the No. 1 ranking
Abraham: Emma Navarro’s run at the US Open

Bold Prediction for 2025:

Pete: A non-Top 10 player will win a Grand Slam
Mel: Karolina Muchova will win a Grand Slam
Mike: Naomi Osaka returns to the Top 20
Ben: Jessica Pegula will win a Grand Slam
Sarah-Jade: Jasmine Paolini will beat Iga Swiatek in the Roland-Garros final
Hugues: Serena Williams attempts a comeback
Abraham: Coco Gauff will win two slams (Wimbledon and US Open)

The WTA's best return to Montreal next summer for the National Bank Open July 26 to Aug. 7, 2025 at IGA Stadium. 2025 Tickets are on sale. Get your tickets today!

Feature Photo: Peter Power