It’s tennis award season time, so we sat Gigi Salmon, Tim Henman, Laura Robson and Jonathan Overend around a table to debate who wins top honours in 2024.
There are six categories with winners from the ATP and WTA Tours, so without further ado, let’s gets down to handing out the prizes…
WTA Player of the Year
Robson: Aryna Sabalenka: Winning Aussie Open, winning US Open, you can’t ask for much more.
Gigi: Sabalenka is year-end No 1 for a reason. She’s the best player in the world. She is happy on court and off court.
Henman: I agree with everything that has been said… so far!
Overend: It’s Aryna Sabalenka – of course it is! Who else could there possibly be? The only other candidate could be Jasmine Paolini.
ATP Player of the Year
Henman: Jannik Sinner winning the Australian Open and US Open. It’s his Grand Slam breakthrough and he’s finished No 1 by quite some margin.
Overend: The way he got to No 1 and then consolidated his position. We’ll see more of his rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz in 2025. Sinner is far and away top of the ranking pile, not just in Grand Slam achievements, but mopping up on the ATP Tour.
To do what he did in the summer with everything that was going on in his life was very, very impressive.
Gigi: I’ve also gone for Sinner but the clincher for me was how he handled himself in the summer.
Robson: I’ve gone for Alcaraz purely based on the summer he had by winning the French Open and Wimbledon. Then straight after that, he got to the Olympic final and he was very close to coming home with a gold medal.
ATP Match of the Year
Overend: It was the Tokyo final between Artur Fils and Ugo Humbert. Fils beat the No 1 seed Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Holge Rune. He somehow plays the set of his life to win the title.
Robson: I’m going to go Novak Djokovic and Alcaraz in the Olympic final. It was the best best-of-three I’ve ever seen in my life. The highlight reel was out of control. Both of them were crying at the same time
Henman: I’m going to go for Daniel Evans and Karen Khachanov at the US Open. Evans had won so few matches going into it. He was two sets down and then just refused to give in. He was 4-0 down in the fifth with treble break points and then won six games in a row. It was the longest match in US Open history!
Gigi: I’m going Alcaraz beating Sinner in the Beijing final. They absolutely bring out the best in each other.
WTA Match of the Year
Robson: I’m going Paolini and Donna Vekic in the Wimbledon semi-final – a monster match! The other one was Iga Swiatek and Sabalenka in the Madrid final.
Gigi: I’ve also gone for Swiatek and Sabalenka in Madrid. I was stood courtside for that and we just kept looking at each other thinking ‘this is incredible, can it get even better?’ But it kept getting better. It was mind-blowing.
Henman: I love it when these rivalries grow in sport and that’s why it was my choice as well.
Overend: It was my choice as well. I hope it isn’t, but I felt like it was the peak of their rivalry.
ATP Point of the Year
Overend: I’ll give you a game when you could have chosen any of the winning shots – the ridiculous game between Djokovic and Fritz in the Shanghai semi-final at 2-2.
Robson: I’ve gone Fritz and Alexander Zverev at the US Open. I think it was the fourth game of the second set and it was a brutal point.
Henman: I have to go with Sinner and Alcaraz from Miami. It looked like an arcade game!
Gigi: I’ve gone for Hugo Gaston in Antwerp against Alex de Minaur. It has been viewed millions of times.
WTA Point of the Year
Robson: I’m going Karolina Muchova at the US Open – shot behind the back. I think it was against Katie Volynets.
Henman: Muchova is one of the favourite players to watch. She has so much variety, which is why I agree with you.
Gigi: I was along the lines of Muchova and Volynets. I just hope Muchova stays fit and healthy.
Overend: We need more Taylor Townsend in our discussion. It was deep in her long match that she played against Elena Rybakina in Miami. The defence she got into, then a lob followed by a searing forehand winner.
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