Nominations for WTA Player of the Year released

The nominations for the WTA Player of the Year for 2019 have been released with Ashleigh Barty heading up the list.

Barty has had an excellent year and ends it as World No.1 having had inaugural major success at Roland Garros; as well as that, she made the second week of all four Grand Slam tournaments.

As well she had a tour leading 56 victories this year; she capped it off with the WTA Finals recently in Shenzhen.

One player that will be a forerunner for the award will be Bianca Andreescu; who came from nowhere to post a 48-7 record and claim the US Open title. Her season though was brought to a halt; due to injury at the WTA Finals which Barty won.

Naomi Osaka is also on the list with the WTA World No.3 picking up her second major title of her career in Australia; while also dominating parts of the Asian hard court swing late season.

Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova complete the list; with both having stellar years at the top of the sport despite the latter not picking up a major title as of yet.

In terms of other awards, Amanda Anisimova, Sofia Kenin and Alison Riske are the forerunners in the Most Improved Player of the Year award. Belinda Bencic, Zheng Saisai and Donna Vekic are also among the nominees.

Bencic is also part of the Comeback Player of the Year award; with Svetlana Kuznetsova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the other challengers.

Andreescu is also in the Newcomer of the Year award; with Coco Gauff, Karolina Muchova, Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek and Dayana Yastremska also up for it.

The awards are voted for by the media; the results will be announced at the start of next month.

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