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Emma Raducanu - US Open 2024
Emma Raducanu, Tennis News, WTA Tennis Players

Emma Raducanu nominated for 2024 WTA Award


Emma Raducanu has been shortlisted for the ‘Comeback Player of the Year’ award, after returning to the WTA Tour at the start of this year following undergoing surgeries to both wrists and her left ankle.

Raducanu began the season ranked outside the top 300, after missing the last eight months of the 2023 season due to the aforementioned operations.

The Brit has since been able to climb back inside the world’s top 60, despite only playing 13 tournaments this year.

Standout results for Emma Raducanu in 2024 include reaching the semi-finals in Nottingham, quarter-finals in Stuttgart, Eastbourne, Washington D.C. and Seoul, as well as the fourth round of Wimbledon.

This is the second time that Raducanu has been nominated for a year-end WTA award, having won the ‘Newcomer of the Year’ prize in 2021 after winning the US Open as a qualifier.

However, Raducanu will face tough competition to take the award on this occasion, with Naomi Osaka, Paula Badosa, Karolina Muchova and Amanda Anisimova also nominated.

The main award category is ‘Player of the Year’, which sees the top singles players from the WTA season shortlisted.

Previous winners of this award include Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and most recently Iga Swiatek, who is nominated once again after winning the honour for two years running.

Swiatek has enjoyed another successful season, winning her fourth Roland Garros title, alongside WTA 1000 trophies in Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome.

Although, the Pole has not found as much success in the second half of the season, and as a result has ended the year as World No.2 after being overtaken by the in-form Aryna Sabalenka.

Sabalenka began her season by retaining the Australian Open title, and came to life once again after missing Wimbledon through injury, winning her third major title at the US Open, and WTA 1000 tournaments in Cincinnati and Wuhan.

This has enabled Sabalenka to finish the year as World No.1 for the first time in her career.

It has also been a mixed season for Coco Gauff, who began the year by defending her title in Auckland, and reached the semi-finals of both the Australian Open and Roland Garros.

Gauff did not live up to the heights of the 2023 North American hard court swing and subsequently parted ways with Brad Gilbert, who would be replaced by new coach Matt Daly.

And this new partnership seems to have gelled straight away, with Gauff winning the her second WTA 1000 title in Beijing and the biggest title of her career since the US Open at the WTA Finals in Riyadh.

The breakout star from this year and another ‘Player of the Year’ nominee is Jasmine Paolini, who had not surpassed the second round of a Grand Slam prior to this season.

Paolini has well and truly torn that script up, after reaching the finals of both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, as well as winning the biggest title of her career in Dubai.

The 28-year-old is now at a singles career-high of World No.4, and has also been nominated for a doubles award alongside Sara Errani as Olympic champions.

Qinwen Zheng completes the ‘Player of the Year’ nominee list, after enjoying a breakout season of her own.

The Chinese No.1 began the year by reaching her first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, but did not reach another final until July when defending the title in Palermo.

This is when Zheng’s season really kicked on, as she became the first Asian player to win tennis singles gold at an Olympic Games in Paris.

Zheng also won the WTA 500 title in Tokyo, as well as reaching the final in Wuhan and was just inches away from beating Gauff to the WTA Finals crown.

All WTA player awards will be voted for by members of the international tennis media, with winners announced across the week beginning on Monday 9th December.

Inside the baseline…

Emma Raducanu receives a lot of critics and a lot of those seem extremely unwarranted, but the Brit has still been able to make some hugely significant moves up the rankings despite relatively little matchplay. In terms of the ‘Player of the Year’ award, it would seem unfair to be awarded to anyone but Aryna Sabalenka after finishing the year as World No.1 for the first time. It also seems slightly unfair that Jasmine Paolini’s incredible singles rise this year is unlikely to be given an award, with the doubles award with Sara Errani seeming more likely.

Full 2024 WTA Award Nominees List

There are five different player categories for the WTA awards, and here are all of the nominees this year, as well as who we think will take home the coveted awards:

Player of the Year

  • Aryna Sabalenka
  • Iga Swiatek
  • Coco Gauff
  • Jasmine Paolini
  • Qinwen Zheng

Tennishead Prediction: Aryna Sabalenka

Doubles Team of the Year

  • Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe
  • Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend
  • Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini
  • Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko
  • Anna Danilina and Irina Khromacheva 

Tennishead Prediction: Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini

Comeback Player of the Year

  • Naomi Osaka
  • Paula Badosa
  • Karolina Muchova
  • Amanda Anisimova
  • Emma Raducanu

Tennishead Prediction: Paula Badosa 

Newcomer of the Year

  • Lulu Sun
  • Erika Andreeva
  • Rebecca Sramkova
  • Zeynep Sonmez
  • Sonay Kartal

Tennishead Prediction: Rebecca Sramkova

Most Improved Player of the Year

  • Emma Navarro 
  • Anna Kalinskaya
  • Danielle Collins
  • Diana Shnaider
  • Marta Kostyuk

Tennishead Prediction: Emma Navarro

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Matthew Johns, Tennishead Writer, is a professional tennis journalist with a specialist degree in Sports Journalism. He's a keen tennis player having represented his local club and University plus he's also a qualified tennis coach. Matthew has a deep knowledge of tennis especially the ATP Tour and thrives on breaking big tennis news stories for Tennishead.