London, Jan 20 (IANS) The International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Monday named Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek as men’s and women’s singles World Champions of 2024 respectively in recognition of their performances at the Grand Slams and other top events last season.
Sinner becomes the first Italian man or woman to be named singles World Champion. He achieved the year-end World No. 1 ranking for the first time, after winning two Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and US Open, the ATP Finals, and boasting a 73-6 win-loss record for the year. He led Italy to their second successive Davis Cup triumph in Malaga, Spain.
Swiatek narrowly edged out year-end No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to become women’s World Champion having previously received this honour in 2022. The Polish player captured her fourth Roland Garros title by the age of 23 and won four WTA 1000 titles during the year.
She saved some of her best performances when representing her country, winning a bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic tennis event and leading Poland to the Billie Jean King Cup semifinals in Malaga.
“The ITF World Champions are selected based on objective criteria considering all results from the season, placing special emphasis on Grand Slam tournaments, the ITF’s World Cup of Tennis competitions Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge, the Olympic Tennis Event and Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Event,” the world governing body of tennis said in a release.
Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia, and Italian duo Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini are named doubles World Champions.
Arevalo and Pavic enjoyed a dream debut season as a pairing in 2024, winning Roland Garros and three other titles, and reaching the final of the ATP Finals to end the year as the No. 1 team. This is the historic first ITF World Champion award for El Salvador, while Pavic is World Champion for a second time having won with compatriot Nikola Mektic in 2021.
Errani and Paolini’s outstanding performances for Italy see them emerge as World Champions. The duo won an historic gold medal at Paris 2024, and went on to lead Italy to the Billie Jean King Cup title in Malaga, winning two deciding doubles matches. This is the fourth time that the 37-year-old Errani has been named women’s doubles World Champion, having won three awards with compatriot Roberta Vinci.
–IANS
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