The 2022 WTA and ATP seasons are officially over, and neither will soon be forgotten. With farewells to some of the sport’s biggest names and the emerging dominance of a group of bright young stars, this year was one for the history books.
But in a season chock full of incredible moments and achievements, who reigned supreme? Which players had the biggest breakthroughs? Who went from middle-of-the-road to contender? We look at all those players — and more — as we name our top honors of the 2022 tennis season.
Women’s player of the year: Iga Swiatek
This category was not up for debate. Did anyone have a better, more dominant year than Swiatek? The answer is a resounding no and it’s hard to even know where to begin. The 21-year-old won the French Open (her second time taking the title in Paris), the US Open, and six other titles, including three at the 1000-level.
From February until June, she recorded a mind-blowing 37-match win streak — the longest such mark by a woman in 32 years. Swiatek took over the No. 1 ranking in April, following the surprising retirement of Ashleigh Barty, and has held onto the position firmly ever since.
Ending the season at 11,085, she has more than double the points of No. 2-ranked Ons Jabeur. For years, women’s tennis has been searching for the heir apparent to eventually replace Serena Williams atop the game, and it appears we’ve finally found her.
Men’s player of the year: Rafael Nadal
Unlike the women’s honor, this was slightly trickier and Carlos Alcaraz made a pretty convincing case for the title. But not only did Nadal win two majors this season, he also twice broke the record for most Grand Slam titles by a men’s player. His current mark of 22 is now just one behind Serena Williams for most in the Open Era. It’s kind of hard to argue with that level of history.
Entering the season following a long injury layoff and a scary bout with COVID, the now-36-year-old had many doubters. But he responded convincingly. Nadal won the first three tournaments of the year, including an amazing comeback victory in the Australian Open final over Daniil Medvedev, and didn’t record a loss until the Indian Wells final in March where he revealed he had been playing with a stress fracture in his rib.
Despite the setback, he made it back in time for clay season and won his 14th(!) title at Roland Garros. The second half of the season hasn’t been anywhere near as successful: An abdominal injury forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon ahead of the…
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