Wimbledon champion, Garbine Muguruza has been named the Women’s Tennis Association’s (WTA) Player of the Year after reaching number one in the rankings and winning at Queen’s Club.
The two grand slam champion is the second Spanish woman after Arantxa Sanchez Vicario to reach number one and by claiming the Wimbledon title became the first player to beat both Serena and Venus Williams in major finals, having beaten Serena to win the 2016 French Open.
Other recipients include French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko as Most Improved Player, CiCi Bellis as Newcomer of the Year, Martina Hingis and Chan Yung-Jan were voted the WTA doubles Team of the Year after winning nine titles including the U.S. Open.
Sloane Stephens who missed the first half of the year after foot surgery and recovered to dramatically win the U.S. Open for her first Grand Slam title has been honoured as the comeback player of the year.
Muguruza is competing at the WTA Finals starting on Sunday against Latvia’s French Open winner Singapore, Jelena Ostapenko, after the White Group opener between Czech Karolina Pliskova and American Venus Williams.
The Red Group includes current world number one Simona Halep of Romania, along with Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki and Caroline Garcia from France.
The top two from each group will progress to the semi-finals.
