World No.1 Ash Barty has taken out the WTA Player of the Year award for the second time in her career.
Barty won five tournaments in 2021, including her second grand slam title, after beating Karolina Pliskova in three sets during to claim the Wimbledon crown.
She also won tournaments in Melbourne, Stuttgart, Cincinnati and Miami, finishing as the year-end No.1 for the third year in a row. She became just the fifth player to hold the WTA’s top spot at year-end for three consecutive seasons, joining legends Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert in achieving that feat.
READ MORE: Blow for England with James Anderson ruled out
READ MORE: WA hits out at Ashes Test snub
READ MORE: Lando Norris fumes at ‘stupid’ Formula 1
Barty was previously named Player of the Year in 2019, and joins Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin, Lindsay Davenport, Graf, Monica Seles and Navratilova as multiple winners of the award.
US Open champion Emma Raducanu was named Newcomer of the Year, after her incredible maiden grand slam triumph in New York.
The British teenager became the first player to win a grand slam title as a qualifier, which came on the back of a fourth-round run at Wimbledon.
She finished the year at No.19 in the rankings, up from 343 at the start of 2021.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!