2015 WTA Awards: Tennis' Women of the Year

As the year comes to an end, we can only reflect on what was a year largely of a monochromic tone.In other words, the year didn’t give us a lot of ups and downs. There were crystal clear winners. Serena Williams jaywalked through the year as if every party in town was her own, as if she could put no foot wrong; of course, until the semi-final of the US Open when Roberta Vinci gate-crashed Serena’s party.Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis combined to become the unstoppable force of Women’s Doubles Tennis ending the year on a high, as they won two Grand Slams among a rash of other titles.Radwanska won her third Shot of the Year Award in a row. Let’s quickly take a look at who ruled the roost at the 2015 WTA Awards.

#1 Player of the Year Serena Williams

It is proving to be impossible to take back that award from Serena, who has won her 7th WTA Player of the Year Award to level with Martina Navratilova. Only Steffi Graf lies ahead with 8 of these – there is a reason why she is considered the Greatest of All Time.

The fiery Williams finished 2015 with three Grand Slams. She won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon to take her career tally to 21 and complete the Serena Slam, holding all four Grand Slams at the same point.

You know you’re doing well when you break, for the second time, a record that’s named after you.

The 34 year old is World No.1 with 9495 points, head and shoulders over the rest of the pack. And she’s maintained her ranking despite taking a 2015 hiatus from tennis following the US Open.

Romania’s Simona Halep is a distant second with 6060 points. That is enough place to fit the Titanic right there. This is Williams’ 4th WTA Player of the Award in a row.

#2 Doubles Team of the Year Sania Mirza & Martina Hingis

This was probably a match made in heaven. No women’s pair in recent times has dominated the field in the way that Sania and Hingis did.

Hingis’ craft, especially near the net, and Mirza’s thunderous groundstrokes have ensured that SanTina, formed during Indian Wells early this year, broke from the rest like Bolt in action.

The pair won the final two Grand Slams of the year at Wimbledon and the US Open, and then went on to win several other titles finishing the year, even winning the WTA Finals without dropping a set.

In worrying news for their opponents, SanTina won the award without even beginning the year together. The two doubles players are 1 and 2 on the rankings with 11355 points, with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands finishing in third on the doubles chart with 7450.

The Indo-Swiss pair finished the year on a high, winning their fourth consecutive tournament at the WTA China Open and eighth overall in the year.

Following their win at the WTA Finals in Singapore, the pair took their ninth title victory of the year.

#3 Comeback of the Year Venus Williams

35-year-old Venus Williams ended 2014 ranked 19 with 2270 points, more than 1,000 adrift of the No.10 ranked player, Germany’s Angelique Kerber.

She turned 2014 around to storm into the Top 10 this year, ending at No.7 with 3790 points.

Venus went 41-13 in 2015 in terms of wins and losses, winning three titles and a hefty prize of $2.4 million. She also became only the ninth woman in the Open Era to register 700 wins as she went on to win the Wuhan Open.

The older Williams sister finished the year on a high winning the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, the 48th title of her career as she beat Karolina Pliskova, who finished the year on No.11.

Venus has been battling health issues as she plays – she is currently suffering from Sjögren's syndrome, an autoimune disorder that causes serious joint pains, but has registered her most impressive season in more than half a decade.

Looks like she is gearing up for an Olympic Gold as she teams up with her top-ranked sister.

#4 Newcomer of the Year Daria Gavrilova

Two numbers are more than enough to justify this award – 233 and 36.

The first is Gavrilova’s year-end ranking in 2014, and the second is her current rank – a jump of 197 positions. The 21-year-old Russian ended the year on 1300 points (she had 200 points in 2014), having participated in 25 tournaments over the course of the year.

One of the highlights of Gavrilova’s year was her first win over a top 10 player – former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova – in the second round of the 2015 Miami Open, where she would eventually reach the fourth round, losing out to Czech Karolina Pliskova.

Gavrilova also defeated Belinda Bencic, last year’s winner of the same award, on more than one occasion this year.

Youth Olympics Singles Gold Medal winner Gavrilova also reached her first semi-final on the WTA Tour beating Ana Ivanovic, a former World No. 1.

#5 Most Improved Player of the Year Timea Bacsinszky

26-year-old Timea Bacsinszky finished the year on No. 12 after finishing 2014 at No.48.

The Swiss won two hard court titles and finished runner-up at the China Open losing to third ranked Garbine Muguruza. Timea had her best year at the Grand Slams, making it to the third round at Australian Open, semi-final at the French Open and Quarter-final at the Wimbledon.

It is also the first time that she has registered more than one victory over a Top 10 player – winning four, including twice against 4th ranked Petra Kvitova. She briefly held the No. 10 rank before dropping a few places.