It’s time to sum up

The tennis season is nearing its end. The Women’s Tennis Association Finals has been played, ahead is a similar tournament in the men’s round. What will this competitive year be remembered for?

Aryna Sabalenka

The Belarusian fans followed the WTA Finals with particular interest. For the second year in a row, Aryna Sabalenka made it to the top eight tennis players of the season. The Belarusian didn’t show her best performance last year: she could not qualify from the group. This time it worked out much better. Having successfully overcome the group stage, Aryna created the main sensation of the tournament in the semi-finals, defeating the world No. 1 in tennis Iga Swiatek, whom she lost four times this year. It is interesting that Sabalenka’s second victory in this struggle happened a year after the first: last year, Aryna also beat Iga in the WTA Finals.


The final of the competition in Fort Worth promised to be interesting. The rivals are the Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, with whom Sabalenka met more than once on the courts, and the score in the confrontation between the tennis players was 2:2. Alas, the Belarusian could not turn the match around: she lost with a score of 6:7, 4:6. Then she realised: she did everything she could, but the Frenchwoman showed just incredible tennis.
The tournament in Fort Worth was the last opportunity for Aryna to get hold of the title this season. The year turned out to be difficult for the Belarusian: the best results achieved by our tennis player were reaching the finals of tournaments in Hertogenbosch and Stuttgart, the semi-finals in Rome, Cincinnati and the US Open. Thus, she failed to win.
The pitch became the main problem of the Belarusian this season: Sabalenka was the leader in the tour in terms of the number of double faults. However, starting this season in second position in the world rankings, Sabalenka has never gone beyond the top 10. The Belarusian will finish the year in fifth place: after a successful performance in Fort Worth, she has risen two positions in the world rankings.

Victoria Azarenka

This season could not be considered the most successful in the career of a tennis player. The tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico, which took place on the eve of the WTA Finals was, perhaps, her most striking performance this year. There, the Belarusian reached the semi-finals, passing two tennis players from the top 10: Paula Badosa, losing the first set with a score of 2:6, could not continue the fight in the 1/16 finals, and Corey Gauff lost to Victoria with a score of 6:7, 6 :4, 3:6. At this tournament, Azarenka also talked about ending her career, “Guadalajara is one of the most hospitable places. There is tremendous energy and awesome support here. I really wondered when and where I could end my career and Mexico might actually be the best option.”
So far, however, Victoria is not going to cover the racket. The tennis player hinted about this recently in social networks, demonstrating the sneakers in which she expects to perform next season. And Azarenka finishes this competitive year in 27th position and in the status of the second best player of the country.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich

The Belarusian has not succeeded in the end of the season: at the final tournament for Aliaksandra in Guadalajara, she dropped out of the fight in the first round, losing to Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk. Before that, she could not overcome the qualification for the tournament in San Diego, also losing to the American Ashlyn Krueger in the first match...
However, this year Aliaksandra had very bright performances. The Belarusian tennis player twice came close to winning the first title in her career at the Women’s Tennis Association competition: Sasnovich reached the final at the tournament in Melbourne in January and in Cleveland at the end of August. But she could not win: in the first case — to the American Amanda Anisimova, in the second — to the Russian woman Liudmila Samsonova.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich managed to make an impressive rise in the world ranking: if in November 2021 she occupied the 91st place, now she is world No. 31 in tennis.

Ilya Ivashka

This season the Minsk resident not only renewed his own achievements, but also proved more than once that he is able to fight very, very serious opponents. Ilya climbed to 40th place in the Association of Tennis Professionals ranking for the first time in his career in June, however, he could not hold it: now Ivashka has dropped to 76th position — for him the end of the season turned out to be quite confused.
Quarter-finals of tournaments in Marseille, Geneva, s-Hertogenbosch, Sofia, semi-finals in Atlanta, victories over the world No. 10 (at that time) Hubert Hurkacz, Grigor Dimitrov (world No. 23), a tense struggle with Daniil Medvedev and other rivals — this season certainly could not be considered failed for Ilya Ivashka.

By Tatyana Litvinova
Photos by REUTERS