Alex de Minaur Wins Australia’s Newcombe Medal

Alex de Minaur has earned Australia’s highest individual honor in tennis…

The 24-year-old Uruguayan & Spanish Australian professional tennis player has been awarded the Newcombe Medal once again after his most consistent season yet.

Alex de Minaur,de Minaur claimed the award outright for the first time on Monday, after previously sharing the 2018 award with Ash Barty and he joins some of the greats of Australian tennis as a multiple winner.

He won the award, named after tennis great John Newcombe, ahead of Storm Hunter, Rinky HijikataAlexei Popyrin, Matt Ebden and Max Purcell.

The world No. 12 joins five-time Newcombe Medalist Barty, three-time recipient Samantha Stosur and wheelchair wizard Dylan Alcott among those who’ve won the award at least twice.

“I’m very sad that I wasn’t able to attend the Newcombe Medal this year and I’m extremely grateful for this amazing award,” de Minaur said in a video message from his training base in Spain.

“It’s been a great year, not only for myself, but for all of Australian tennis and I think we should (all be) very proud indeed.

“(I) would also like to thank Newk. Wish I could shake your hand right now and be there, but I appreciate everything you do for Australian tennis.”

de Minaur’s recognition comes off the back of soaring to the cusp of the world’s top 10 in 2023.

He reached a career-high No. 11 in October, collected his seventh ATP Tour title in Acapulco, made four finals and helped Australia to a second straight Davis Cup decider in Spain.

That included a brilliant fightback in the quarterfinal win over the Czech Republic.

In his most consistent season, de Minaur also became the first Australian since his idol and Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt in 2004 to progress to 11 tournament quarterfinals.

He made the second week at two of the four grand slams, in Melbourne and New York. de Minaur is Australia’s biggest hope at Melbourne Park in January, when he will attempt to better his fourth-round appearances in 2022 and 2023.

Earlier in the evening, Alicia Molik was awarded the Spirit of Tennis award. During her career, Molik rose to world No.8 in singles and No.6 in doubles and she was also a Fed Cup representative from 1999.

After her playing career, Molik, 42, went on to lead Australia to the Billie Jean King Cup final as captain in 2019 at Perth and in 2022 at Glasgow.

WTA Names Carla Suarez Navarro its “Comeback Player of the Year”

Carla Suarez Navarro’s triumphant return to the tennis court is earning her a special award…

The 33-year-old Spanish tennis player has been named the Comeback Player of the Year by the WTA, the governing body of the women’s game.

Carla Suarez Navarro 

Suaraez Navarro announced in September, 2020 that she was being treated for early stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

She underwent months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy before returning at the French Open in June.

Suárez Navarro retired after Spain’s elimination from the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

Her final matches in singles and doubles took place during Spain’s previous tie against Slovakia.

World No. 1 Ash Barty was named WTA Player of the Year for the second time, while US Open champion Emma Raducanu took the Newcomer of the Year title.

Barbora Krejcikova took the WTA prize for the Most Improved Player of the Year following a stellar season in which she won the French Open singles crown.

She also excelled in doubles with playing partner Katerina Siniakova, with the pair earning the Doubles Team of the Year award, which they also won in 2018.

Paula Badosa Upsets Top Seed Aryna Sabalenka in Debut Career Match at WTA Finals

Paula Badosa is off to a stellar start…

The 23-year-old Spanish professional tennis player, competing in her first-ever WTA Finals, started off slowly but won 10 games in a row to upset top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-0 on Thursday in their opening match at the WTA Finals.

Paula BadosaSabalenka, the world´s No. 2-ranked player, dominated early in the match to take a 4-2 lead, but Badosa recovered and won four games in a row to win the first set and then controlled the second with three breaks.

“I played pretty good, the conditions here are tough to play, but I played an amazing match. I knew I had to play like this to beat her,” Badosa said.

Sabalenka, who won titles in Abu Dhabi and Madrid this season, is the first seed in Mexico because world No. 1 Ash Barty of Australia decided not to defend her WTA Finals title due to continuing COVID-19 travel and quarantine restrictions.

Barty had to undergo two weeks of quarantine when she returned to her Brisbane home in September after the US Open and did not want to do the same again traveling to Mexico.

“I am really disappointed of myself and this match, but hopefully I can bring myself back,” Sabalenka said.

Badosa is having a breakthrough season after starting the year ranked 70th. She will next play Maria Sakkari, who used her strong first serve to extend her dominance over former French Open champoin Iga Swiatek with a 6-2, 6-4 win earlier Thursday.

“My life has changed so much and very fast, I have so much more stress now with a lot of eyes on me,” Badosa said. “The ceiling is high for me, I have always dream big, I want to play in this type of tournaments to play against the best and being challenged every day.”

All of the players are having to adjust their game to the nearly 5,000-feet altitude of Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city.

The tournament, which was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, features a round-robin group stage before the semifinals.

The WTA Finals are being played in Guadalajara for this year only, with the event scheduled to return to Shenzhen, China, in 2022.

Alex de Minaur to Compete at First Olympics at Tokyo Games

Alex de Minaur is headed to the Summer Olympics

The 22-year-old Uruguayan-Spanish Australian player, who won the first grass-court title of his career at the Eastbourne tournament last weekend, will contest the Tokyo Games alongside Ash Barty,  Nick Kyrgios and Sam Stosur.

Alex de Minaur

The quartet have been confirmed on Australia’s 11-strong tennis team for next month’s Olympics.

John MillmanJames DuckworthJohn Peers and Luke Saville make up the rest of the male contingent with Ellen PerezStorm Sanders and Ajla Tomljanovic joining Barty and Stosur on the women’s team.

Stosur will contest her fifth Olympics, with Millman and Peers lining up for their second Games – the remainder will make their Olympic debuts.

“It’s super special being able to represent your country in one Olympics let alone five,” Stosur said on Tuesday.

“In primary school we did a time capsule thing.

“I went to the school for the first year that it opened and I wrote in there that I wanted to win a Grand Slam, be number one in the world and go to an Olympic Games.

“To have done two out of the three, thinking that when I was nine or 10-years-old … is something incredible.”

Stosur, Tomljanovic and Barty will compete in the women’s singles, with Barty teaming up with Sanders and Stosur with Perez in the doubles.

“Making your first Olympic team … is something I’ve always dreamt of,” Barty said.

“I’m excited to play both singles and doubles. Any opportunity you get to wear the green and gold, I wanted to grab it with both hands.”

de Minaur is world No.15 – his career-best ranking – after winning his fifth career title at the Eastbourne International three days ago.

“It’s an incredibly special feeling (to be going to the Olympics),” he said.

“The anticipation brings a higher level of intensity and, of course, passion.

“Playing for your country, it’s always going to be very special.”

de Minaur, Millman, Peers and Saville have been named for both singles and doubles tournaments with Kyrgios and Duckworth to contest singles only.

The sole Australian to win an Olympic tennis medal, Alicia Molik – who took bronze at the 2004 Games – will captain the women’s team with national men’s coach Jaymon Crabb to skipper the men’s team.