Emma Raducanu clenching her first in celebration after winning her opening round match at the Australian Open

Emma Raducanu and Sonay Kartal nominated for 2024 WTA Player Awards

21/11/24 • 2 MINUTE READ

The nominations for the 2024 WTA Player Awards have been announced with British tennis stars Emma Raducanu and Sonay Kartal amongst the list of players up for awards.

The WTA Player Awards recognise the top performers of the 2024 season, with the winners chosen by members of the international tennis media.

Former US Open champion Raducanu has been nominated for ‘Comeback Player of the Year’, while Kartal has been nominated for ‘Newcomer of the Year’.

Last year, Raducanu was forced to watch on from the sidelines after undergoing surgeries on both wrists and her ankle – forcing her to call an early end to her season in April. Despite being away from the game for eight months, Raducanu sprung back to action at the ASB Classic in January.

From there, she went on to reach the third round at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells and the quarter-finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix before turning her attention to the grass court season where she earned some of her best wins of the season.

The 22-year-old kicks-started her grass court swing with a semi-final run at the Rothesay Open Nottingham, before reaching the quarter-finals of the Rothesay International Eastbourne and the fourth round at The Championships, Wimbledon.

Towards the latter half of the season, Raducanu also impressed on the hard courts – making the quarter-finals at the Mubadala Citi DC Open and the Hana Bank Korea Open. Her consistent results saw her rise from world No.301 at the start of the year to No.58 in November.

Nominees for Comeback Player of the Year:

Emma Raducanu (GBR)
Naomi Osaka (JPN)
Paula Badosa (ESP)
Karolina Muchova (CZE)
Amanada Anisimova (USA)

Meanwhile, Kartal has embarked on a stellar year of her own which saw her claim five W35 titles, however it was her progress on the WTA tour that made her a worthwhile nominee for Newcomer of the Year.

Her rise to the top began on British soil where she earned her best Grand Slam run to date at her home tournament at Wimbledon. The 23-year-old came through three rounds of qualifying to reach the main draw in SW19 where she went on to defeat world No.31 Sorana Cirstea en route to the third round.

The Brighton-born star then turned her attention to the hard courts where she collected her maiden WTA title at the 250 event in Monastir. Kartal came through qualifying at the Jasmin Open and only dropped one set on her way to a first tour-level title that eventually saw her crack into the world’s top 100 for the first time and record a career-high ranking of No.87.