The winners of the 2023 WTA Player awards were announced Monday, and Poland's Iga Swiatek has repeated as Player of the Year.
The 2022 US Open champion and year-end world No. 1 Swiatek was awarded Player of the Year for the second year in a row—the first woman to win it in consecutive years since Serena Williams, who earned the honor from 2012 to 2015. Though she lost in the fourth round in Queens this year, Swiatek led the tour with six WTA titles in 2023: a title defense at Roland Garros, a WTA 1000-level title in Beijing, two wins at the WTA 500s in Doha and Stuttgart, the WTA 250 crown in her home country of Poland, the year-end GNP Seguros WTA Finals in Cancun, where she reclaimed the top spot in the rankings from Aryna Sabalenka.
Her on-court dominance contributed to her coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, winning 2023 WTA Coach of the Year. Fellow registered WTA coaches rewarded the strength and resilience shown by Swiatek and Wiktorowski throughout a challenging season—and Swiatek’s ability to keep and reclaim the No. 1 ranking in addition to her tour-leading 68 wins.
Wimbledon finalists Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens were presented with the Doubles Team of the Year after a fantastic first year as a pair. In addition to their success at the All England Club, Hunter and Mertens made a run to the Australian Open quarterfinals in their debut tournament, reached the semifinals of the WTA Finals, and claimed WTA 1000-level titles in Rome and Guadalajara to help Hunter end 2023 as the doubles year-end No. 1.
Zheng Qinwen, a US Open breakout star, was voted the Most Improved Player of the Year, 12 months after winning Newcomer of the Year. She jumped into the Top 20 for the first time after reaching the quarterfinals in Rome, and finished the year at a personal best of No. 15 after winning her first title at Palermo, a US Open quarterfinal run, and reaching the Zhuhai WTA Elite Trophy final. Zheng won 12 of her last 15 matches in 2023, setting the stage for another strong year in 2024.
Sixteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva also made her mark on the WTA Tour this year, jumping over 350 spots in the rankings from No. 405 to No. 46 over the course of the year. She began the season as the Australian Open girls’ singles finalist, then reached the Round of 16 in Madrid by triumphing over Top 20 players Beatriz Haddad Maia and Magda Linette. She made her Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros after coming through qualifying to reach the third round, then improved on her performance to make the fourth round at Wimbledon, beating No. 11 Barbora Krejcikova before falling to Madison Keys.
A 2023 US Open crowd favorite, Elina Svitolina won Comeback Player of the Year less than 12 months after giving birth to her daughter, Skaï. Just a month after she returned to the tour in April, Svitolina won her 17th career title in Strasbourg, then followed that up with a run to the quarterfinals of Roland Garros before defeating Swiatek on her way to the Wimbledon semifinals—matching her best result at a major. Svitolina reclaimed her place at the top of the rankings, ending the year at No. 25.
The “minister of happiness,” Ons Jabeur was honored by her colleagues with two WTA Player Service awards: the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award and the Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award. She also won the Karen Krantzcke award in 2022, which is given to the athlete who demonstrates the principles of fair play and respect for others on and off the court. Jabeur’s support for other players and wider player initiatives earned her the Peachy Kellmeyer award. She is in great company, as only Kim Clijsters has won both awards in the same year.
Jessica Pegula, meanwhile, was honored with the Jerry Diamond ACES Award, in memory of former WTA CEO Jerry Diamond, for “her consistent professional conduct and willingness to promote women’s tennis to fans, media and local communities by taking part in off-court promotional and charitable activities.”
