The 2024 ATP and WTA seasons have come to a close (bar the ATP Next Gen Finals), with another 11 months’ worth of storylines having been written. The sheer volume of tennis played throughout the year leaves no shortage of substance to analyse and discuss with certain players, tournaments, and happenings on tour, which shape our perspectives on the season.
What were the stand-out moments? Which questions were answered? What did we learn? All of that and more is on the agenda.
1. Sabalenka is the undisputed hard court queen
Going into the 2024 season, little doubt remained as to who were the real contenders for the big titles on the WTA tour. Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Świątek, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina had all staked their respective claims.
Although Świątek has long held the crown as ‘queen of clay’, would any of the big hitters separate themselves from the pack on the tour’s most common surface? Sabalenka answered with a resounding yes.
A comprehensive defence of her Australian Open crown, during which she did not drop a set and lost just 31 games, set the tone for her hard court Grand Slam season. In New York later in the year, the Belarusian would go one better than in 2023, defeating Jessica Pegula to win the US Open and improve her 2024 record in the hard court majors to 14-0, losing just a single set all year. Add in Sabalenka’s big titles in Cincinnati and Wuhan, there is little doubt as to who was the dominant hard court player on the tour this season.
2. Perhaps only Alcaraz can stop Sinner
Sinner was the biggest revelation in the world of tennis in 2024. The Italian made good on his long-held potential, storming clear of the competition to win both the Australian Open and US Open, the ATP Finals, and finish over 3000 points clear of second spot in the end-of-season rankings. A truly remarkable season from Sinner, comparable to some of the very best in the previous 20 years of the sport. In many ways, he was unstoppable. Well, almost.
The Italian's 73-6 season record meant beating him was a feat worthy of great celebration. Alcaraz beat him all three times they played; Semi-finals at Indian Wells and Roland Garros, as well as the final in Beijing, all fell the way of the Spaniard, albeit requiring the maximum number of sets on each occasion.
Sinner’s season undoubtedly surpassed Alcaraz’s in the end, yet in their personal rivalry, it was Alcaraz who came away more satisfied. Will anyone, even Alcaraz, be able to stop the world No.1 in 2025?
3. Osaka is a threat… on clay?
Naomi Osaka’s return to professional tennis has hardly been smooth sailing. The four-time Grand Slam champ ended her season returning from maternity leave with a respectable 22-17 record. Picking up a handful of wins in tournaments like Beijing, Miami, Indian Wells and Qatar was expected when Osaka took to her beloved hard courts.
Yet, perhaps the best moments of Osaka’s season came on the clay courts of Rome and Paris in a surprising turn of events.
After claiming a solitary win in Madrid, Osaka made it through to the Round of 16 in Rome, including impressive wins over Marta Kostyuk and Daria Kasatkina. Then at Roland Garros, Osaka had the misfortune of drawing heavy tournament favourite Świątek in the second round.
But Osaka shocked the tennis world as she came agonisingly close to a monumental upset, taking her Polish foe all the way to 7-5 in the third set. Excluding the Osaka match, Świątek did not lose a set or even more than four games in any set throughout Roland Garros. Osaka took a set, plus forced Świątek deeper than anyone else in the other two, showcasing a quality on clay that had scarcely been seen previously, even when the Japanese star was at her very best.
4. Frenchmen: out with the old, in with the new
The last few seasons on the ATP Tour have seen many a beloved French superstar hang up the racquet.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon are no longer actively competing, Richard Gasquet has announced his final tournament will be at next year’s Roland Garros, whilst Gaël Monfils must surely be nearing the conclusion of his illustrious career at the age of 38. A generation of French players has thrilled tennis audiences, especially French fans, seemingly leaving a major gap at the top of the sport.
However, in a perfectly timed transition, a new array of French stars have made quite the splash in 2024. Ugo Humbert, Arthur Fils and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard have each put together their best season yet, soaring into the top-20 in Humbert and Fils’ case, whilst Mpetshi Perricard now sits just outside the top-30.
Humbert has been around the block for a while longer than his younger compatriots, but now aged 26, the tricky left-hander appears to have found his groove, winning titles in Marseille and Dubai as well as reaching the final at the Paris Masters. Fils and Mpetshi Perricard meanwhile, aged 20 and 21 respectively, have made significant improvements, with Fils breaching the top-20 for the first time, whilst Mpetshi Perricard has gone from outside the world's 200 to the cusp of the top-30 in just 12 months.
5. Krejčíková is no one-hit wonder
One of the players whose career reputation benefitted the most from their 2024 exploits is Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejčíková.
Having emerged from the shadows to claim her Roland Garros crown in 2021, the Czech has struggled to meet the standards she set in that campaign.
However, in a similarly unpredictable fashion, Krejčíková stormed the field at this year’s Wimbledon, defeating Danielle Collins, Jeļena Ostapenko, Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini en route to her second Grand Slam singles title. Krejčíková’s prowess on the doubles court was hardly up for debate heading into 2024, but her Wimbledon win has cemented a memorable singles legacy.
6. How tough it is to remain at the top
A particularly striking theme from the 2024 season was just how many former top-10, top-five, or even top-three players found themselves scattered down the rankings.
Of course, players like Ons Jabeur and Maria Sakkari can readily point to injury troubles to explain their descent, yet of greater interest are those players who found themselves simply unable to replicate the performances of recent seasons.
Holger Rune, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud and Veronika Kudermetova, all players very recently inside the top 10 or top five rankings, endured difficult campaigns where they were forced to settle for flashes of their previous brilliance.
Tennis, even when fit and able to play, can be so physically, mentally and emotionally gruelling, that simply maintaining a standard that has been set in prior years can prove a mountainous task. The challenge of maintaining a high ranking in tennis is not unique to 2024, but its prevalence throughout the season made its truth as salient as ever.
7. Muchová’s best really is as good as anyone’s
Karolína Muchová has long been the archetypal ‘almost’ player. Indisputably talented and thrilling to watch, the Czech has suffered a career dogged by injuries, seemingly forever rendering her true potential a mystery.
Muchová did reach the Roland Garros final in 2023 as well as a US Open semi-final, but then found herself on the sidelines for another nine months.
This season, Muchová allayed any doubts as to whether her end to 2023 was a mere flash in the pan, tearing through draws in Beijing, Ningbo, Palermo and at the US Open. Hard court wins against Sabalenka, Osaka and Zheng Qinwen proved that even the very best may meet their match in the form of Muchová.
For now, one can only imagine the damage she could do with an uninterrupted 2025 campaign.
8. Popyrin is Australia’s next best shot at a singles Grand Slam
Australia’s then-world No.62 Alexei Popyrin arrived in Montreal back in August having put together a decent, albeit uninspiring, 2024 season up until that point. Third-round results at Wimbledon and Monte Carlo were the most notable achievements, for a player very much at a cross-roads in his career.
Popyrin proceeded to play some of the tennis of his life over the remaining months of the season, winning the title in Montreal and defeating Novak Djokovic en route to the fourth round at the US Open, his first-ever second week at a Slam. The blistering tennis produced by the big-serving Aussie put everyone on notice and earned him his accreditation to the club of players who ‘can beat anyone on their day’. How often do those players end up winning major titles? Not very.
Nonetheless, Popyrin has demonstrated an ability to beat even the very best on the biggest stages, with the crucial point of difference to most of his compatriots being his ability to take the racquet out of his opponent’s hands and play the game totally on his terms. A Grand Slam title is unlikely, but Popyrin has shown he has the game.
9. The Aussie kids are alright
A highlight of the 2024 season for Aussie tennis fans was the number of young Australian players who made real imprints on the professional scene.
22-year-old Olivia Gadecki had a brilliant end to the season, reaching the final at the WTA 500 event in Guadalajara, whilst 18-year-old Maya Joint caught plenty of eyes when she worked her way through US Open qualifying and claimed a maiden main draw win at a Grand Slam. Talia Gibson also made major strides, having finished last season ranked outside the top-300 and now finding herself approaching the top-100.
The Aussie men also enjoyed some success, with Rinky Hijikata cementing his status hovering outside the top-50, whilst Adam Walton, albeit somewhat of a later bloomer, finally cracked the top-100. A new generation of Australian players regularly qualifying for Grand Slam main draws and seriously competing on the professional tours is sorely needed.
2024 gave us plenty of reasons for optimism.
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