World No. 1 Iga Swiatek named 2022 WTA Player of the Year

WATCH: Swiatek ended a near-perfect season at the WTA Finals, where she went undefeated in round-robin play en route to the semifinals.

The Women’s Tennis Association have revealed their 2022 WTA Award winners, and in a surprise to very few, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek was named Player of the Year.

Swiatek all but assured herself the mantle thanks to a prolific season that saw her add two more major titles to her total haul of three, top the WTA rankings for the first time in April, and amass a 37-match winning streak en route to eight titles in 2022.

The 21-year-old won the WTA’s Most Improved Award in 2020 after winning her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, and in a media vote topped fellow nominees Caroline Garcia, Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur, Jessica Pegula, and Elena Rybakina.

Doubles world No. 1 Katerina Siniakova and longtime partner Barbora Krejcikova won Doubles Team of the Year for a third time, having previously won the title in 2018 and 2021. Siniakova and Krejcikova went undefeated in Grand Slam doubles play in 2022, winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open—only missing Roland Garros due to Krejcikova’s bout with COVID-19. The Czech duo finished the season by reaching the finals of the WTA Finals for a third time, where they finished runner-up to Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova.

Beatriz Haddad Maia was named Most Improved after finishing a breakthrough 2022 season ranked inside the Top 20 for the first time in her career. The Brazilian star reached her first WTA 1000 final at the National Bank Open in Toronto and won back-to-back grass-court titles in Nottingham and Birmingham.

Zheng Qinwen nabbed Newcomer of the Year thanks to a scintillating debut season on the WTA tour, cracking the world’s Top 25 thanks to a maiden WTA 1000 quarterfinal in Toronto and a first Grand Slam fourth-round appearance at Roland Garros, where she stunned former champion Simona Halep and pushed eventual champion Swiatek to three sets.

Wimbledon semifinalist Tatjana Maria earned Comeback Player of the Year on the strength of her best-ever Grand Slam result, which comes after giving birth to her second child in 2021. Before putting together a peak performance on grass, Maria surged to a second career title in Bogota—her first since 2018—and ended the year ranked inside the Top 70 after starting it ranked outside the Top 200.

Ons Jabeur, Gabriela Dabrowski and Maria Sakkari were among the 2022 WTA Player Service Award winners, which are voted on by WTA players. Jabeur won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmansip Award, Dabrowski won the Peach Kellmeyer Player Service Award, and Sakkari took home the Jerry Diamond ACES award.

Finally, David Witt was named Coach of the Year by his colleagues; Witt took charge Jessica Pegula through an incredible 2022 season that included a run to the Top 3 in the WTA rankings and debut WTA Finals berths in both singles and doubles.