American tennis star Sofia Kenin named WTA Player of the Year for 2020

American tennis star Sofia Kenin after a hugely successful year that saw her lift the Australian Open has been named the WTA Player of the Year.

The 22-year-old defeated world No 1 Ashleigh Barty in the semi-finals and former No 1 Garbiñe Muguruza in the final to capture her maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne.

Kenin also reached her second career Grand Slam final at Roland Garros, losing only to Poland’s Iga ?wi?tek while also finishing the season at a career-high world No 4.

She joins Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, Lindsay Davenport, Tracy Austin, Chris Evert, Venus Williams, and Jennifer Capriati to become the eighth American to earn the honour since it began in 1977.

French Open singles champion Swiatek won the Most Improved Player of the Year award.

The talented Pole defeated 2019 finalist Marketa Vondrousova, 2018 champion Halep and 2020 Australian Open champion Kenin to win her maiden Tour-level title at Roland Garros, along the way and didn’t drop a set throughout the fortnight.

She became the youngest woman since Monica Seles to win the French Open at 19-years-old.

Nadia Podoroska of Argentina also won Newcomer of the Year, while former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka swooped the Comeback Player of the Year award after she winning her first title in over four years at the Western & Southern Open and advanced to her fifth career Grand Slam final at the US Open.

The Belarusian also regained her spot in the WTA Top 20.

Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos, who won Doubles Team of the Year were also on the list of honours.

The French-Hungarian pairing captured both the Australian Open and French Open titles, marking their third and fourth major doubles titles as a team.