Aryna Sabalenka’s sensational 2024 feat only Serena Williams has bettered in last decade
Aryna Sabalenka’s performances at Grand Slams in her outstanding 2024 season saw her record a stunning statistic only Serena Williams has bettered in the last decade.
The Belarusian star, who achieved her maiden year-end world No 1 finish this season, was crowned WTA Player of the Year on Monday.
Sabalenka is the 23rd different player and first Belarusian to win the prestigious award, which was introduced in 1977.
Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Zheng Qinwen were the other Player of the Year nominees, with the winner determined by votes from international tennis media.
“Hi guys, I’m super happy to win the award. Thank you so much for awarding for me, I really appreciate all of the votes,” Sabalenka said in a video on social media.
“Thank you so much for the support throughout the year. It’s been a great year for me. Thank you, love you guys.”
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Sabalenka won two of the four Grand Slam events in 2024 as she defended her Australian Open crown and secured her maiden US Open title.
The 26-year-old suffered her only defeat at a major this year at the French Open, where she fell in the quarter-finals to Mirra Andreeva in three sets.
She was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon, where she would arguably have been a strong favourite, due to a shoulder injury.
Sabalenka, therefore, amassed an 18-1 record from her 19 Grand Slam matches in 2024, giving her a stellar win percentage of 94.7%.
This is the highest Grand Slam win percentage any WTA player has had in a single season (with a minimum of 10 matches played) since Serena Williams in 2015.
In 2015, Williams fell just two wins short of becoming the third woman in the Open Era to complete a historic calendar-year Grand Slam.
The American legend won the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon before her shock three-set defeat to Roberta Vinci in the US Open semi-finals.
This meant Williams finished the 2015 campaign with an incredible 26-1 (96.3%) record from her 27 matches at Grand Slams.
Margaret Court (1970) and Steffi Graf (1988) are the only female players to win all four majors in a season since the Open Era started in 1968.
Graf also won the Olympic gold medal in 1988, making her the only player in history to achieve a staggering Golden Slam.
