Serena Williams, despite the debacle at the US open, remains to be one of the stand-out players on the WTA roster. The American was presented with the comeback player of the year award at the WTA year-end finals. Serena Williams, after a long hiatus, returned to professional tennis with only one goal on her mind- wining more titles.
Despite being unavailable to defend her Australian Open crown, the American put up impeccable displays of tennis at the remaining big tournaments. Serena reached the round of 16 of the French Open, where she had to withdraw before the match against Maria Sharapova, citing injury related issues. She made it to the finals of the Wimbledon Championships, where she was denied the title by former world number one Angelique Kerber. She put up another stellar performance at the US open, where she did not drop a single set until she reached the finals, where
Naomi Osaka proved herself worthy of the big stage.
Williams announced her end to the 2018 campaign, soon after the US open. She will feature at the Hopman Cup alongside Roger Federer, where she will look to get in good touch before heading off to the first slam of the year down under. The WTA player of the year award was bagged by none other than the world number one,
Simona Halep, who won her first slam at the Roland Garros this year, and also held on to the year-end world number one position for the second time.
The WTA Most Improved Player of the Year award went to Kiki Bertens, while the WTA Newcomer of the Year award went to Aryna Sabalenka. The doubles team of the year award went to Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova. Elina Svitolina recieved the Jerry Diamond ACES Award, for promoting tennis in a big way, after joining in numerous kids’ clinics, charitable activities and fan-friendly events across the world to help bring the game closer to the community. Svitolina also picked up the IQIYI Award.
