A Look Back at the Year That Was 2013
2013 Grand Slam Champions
Australian Open
►Men's Singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbia) defeated Andy Murray (Great Britain) 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2
►Men's Doubles: Bob & Mike Bryan (USA) defeated Robin Haase (Netherlands) & Igor Sijsling (Netherlands) 6-3, 6-4
►Women's Singles: Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) defeated Li Na (China) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
►Women's Doubles: Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci (Italy) defeated Ashleigh Barty & Casey Dellaqua (Australia) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
►Mixed-Doubles: Jarmilla Gajdosova & Matthew Ebden (Austrailia) defeated Lucie Hradecka & Frantisek Cermak (Czech Republic) 6-3, 7-5
French Open
►Men's Singles: Rafael Nadal (Spain) defeated David Ferrer (Spain) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3
►Men's Doubles: Bob & Mike Bryan (USA) defeated Michael Llorda & Nicolas Mahut (France) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6
►Women's Singles: Serena Williams (USA) defeated Maria Sharapova (Russia) 6-4, 6-4
►Women's Doubles: Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina (Russia) defeated Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-2
►Mixed-Doubles: Lucie Hradecka & Frantisek Cermak (Czech Republic) defeated Kristina Mladenovic (France) & Daniel Nestor (Canada) 1-6, 6-4, 10-6
Wimbledon
►Men's Singles: Andy Murray (Great Britain) defeated Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 6-4, 7-5, 6-4
►Men's Doubles: Bob & Mike Bryan (USA) defeated Ivan Dodig (Croatia) & Marcelo Melo (Brazil) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
►Women's Singles: Marion Bartoli (France) defeated Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 6-1, 6-4
►Women's Doubles: Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) & Peng Shuai (China) defeated Ashleigh Barty & Casey Dellaqua (Australia) 7-6, 6-1
►Mixed-Doubles: Kristina Mladenovic (France) & Daniel Nestor (Canada) defeated Lisa Raymond (USA) & Bruno Soares (Brazil) 5-7, 6-2, 8-6
U.S. Open
►Men's Singles: Rafael Nadal (Spain) defeated Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
►Men's Doubles: Leander Paes (India) & Radek Stepanek (Czech) defeated Alexander Peya (Austria) & Bruno Soares (Brazil) 6-1, 6-3
►Women's Singles: Serena Williams (USA) defeated Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 7-5, 6-7, 6-1
►Women's Doubles: Andrea Hlavackova & Lucie Hradecka (Czech Republic) defeated Ashleigh Barty & Casey Dellacqua (Australia) 6-7, 6-1, 6-4
►Mixed-Doubles: Andrea Hlavackova (Czech Republic) & Max Mirnyi (Russia) defeated Abigail Spears (USA) & Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) 7-6, 6-3
ATP Year-End Award Winners
►ATP Year End Number 1: Rafael Nadal secured the year end number one ranking with a successful season in which he won the last three Grand Slam titles (French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open).
►ATP Number 1 Doubles Team: Bob & Mike Bryan win for a fifth consecutive year and record ninth overall. The 35-year-old American twins guaranteed their year-end number one ranking on Aug. 19, the earliest ever by a doubles team. They won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, making them the first team to hold all four majors and the Olympic Gold Medal at the same time.
►ATP Star of Tomorrow Award: Jiri Vesely was the youngest player to finish in the top 100 rankings. Vesely, who began the season ranked outside the top 250, broke into the top 100 in July, two days before his 20th birthday and reached a career high of 78 by August. The Czech made his tour level main-draw debut as a qualifier at the French Open and also won three ATP Challenger Tour titles.
►Most Improved Player of the Year: Pablo Carreno Busta climbed from a year-end number 715 last season to a career high number 66 in 2013. He won 35 straight matches and seven titles on the Future’s Circuit. He made his Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros this year.
►ATP Comeback Player of the Year: After being sidelined for seven months with a knee injury, Rafael Nadal made his return in February to claim 10 titles, including an eighth French Open title, a second U.S. Open championship and a record-tying fifth Masters Trophy.
►Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award: Roger Federer was the 2013 Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award winner, as voted on by his fellow players on the ATP Tour. This year marked the ninth time Federer has won the award and the third year in a row he won the honor.
►Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year: Roger Federer has been named the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year for a second time in recognition of his Foundation's support of children in Africa and Switzerland. The Roger Federer Foundation was established in 2003.
►ATPWorldTour.com Fans Favorite Singles: Roger Federer was named ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favorite Singles Player of the Year for the 11th consecutive year. Federer received 56 percent of the vote.
►ATPWorldTour.com Fans Favorite Doubles: Bob & Mike Bryan received 43 percent of votes to win this award for a record ninth time.
►Ron Bookman Media Excellence Award: Bendou Zhang, the Shanghai-based Zhang is the tennis writer for Titan Sports, China's most successful sports newspaper. Zhang has been a journalist for more than 20 years, two years ago.
WTA Year-End Award Winners
►WTA Player of the Year: Serena Williams didn't just have the best season of anyone in 2013, she put together one of the best seasons in the history of women's tennis. Serena won 11 WTA titles, accumulating 78 match wins. She only lost four matches in 2013 and pushed all of them to three sets. This is the fifth time in her career that Serena has won the WTA Player of the Year Award.
►WTA Doubles Team of the Year: Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci of Italy were named the 2013 WTA's Doubles Team of the Year. This duo won the Australian Open and held the number ranking all year long.
►Most Improved Player of the Year: Simona Halep of Romania has been named the most improved player of 2013. It all started with an incredible run in Rome. She reached the semifinals as a qualifier beating four highly ranked players along the way before falling to Serena. Following this tournament, Halep went 43-8 in her last 14 WTA main draws of the year. She won her first 6 WTA titles and finished the year with a number 11 ranking.
►Comeback Player of the Year: Alisa Kleybanova beat Hodgkins Lymphoma, built her game back up on the ITF Women's Circuit, and is now playing on WTA Tour again. Kleybanova is very deservedly the WTA's Comeback Player of the Year Award.
►Newcomer of the Year: Eugenie Bouchard burst into the international spotlight in 2012 by winning junior Wimbledon and becoming the first Canadian, male or female, ever to win a Grand Slam title in singles. But sometimes the transition from the juniors to the pros is a difficult one. The talent is evident but players need some time to develop the "complete package." But when it comes to this year’s WTA Newcomer of the Year, it didn't take long at all for Eugenie to succeed. Bouchard reached a career high ranking of 32nd in the world which not only makes her the top-ranked Canadian, but makes her the highest ranked teenager in the world.
►WTA Fan Favorite Award: Agnieszka Radwanska has been voted by her fans as fan favorite singles player in 2013 for the third straight year. She finished the season ranked number five in the world.
►WTA Fan Favorite Doubles Team: Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina were chosen as the fan favorite 2013 doubles team.
Players who retired in 2013
ATP Tour
James Blake's professional tennis career came to an end at this year’s U.S. Open. Blake, who attended Harvard University before turning pro in 1999, reached a career-high ranking of number four in 2006. He won 10 singles titles in his career. At Grand Slam tournaments, he reached the quarterfinals on three occasions. Blake was ranked 100th on the ATP Tour at the time of his retirement.
David Nalbandian spent 13 years on the ATP Tour, reaching a career high of number three in the rankings in 2006 and spending five consecutive years in the top 10. He reached at least the semifinals at all four Grand Slam tournaments, as well as playing at the Wimbledon finals. Nalbandian won a total of 11 singles titles in his career.
Xavier Malisse retired after 15 years on the ATP Tour. The 33-year-old from Belgium had a career high ranking of 19th in the world and won three ATP titles. His best Grand Slam result was the Wimbledon semifinals in 2002, when he lost a five-set match to David Nalbandian.
Nicolas Massu announced his retirement from professional tennis in 2013. The 33 year-old from Chile had a career high ranking of ninth on the ATP Tour. He won six Tour titles, but the highlight of his career was winning Olympic Gold Medals in both singles and doubles at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.
WTA Tour
Marion Bartoli of France shocked the tennis world with her decision to quit the sport just six weeks after winning Wimbledon. This was the first Grand Slam title of her career. In addition to her prestigious Wimbledon victory, the 29 year old won seven other WTA singles titles earning her more than $11 million in prize money during her career.
Anne Keothavong announced her retirement after a string of injuries and disappointing results. The 29-year-old never won a WTA singles title, but did claim 20 titles on the ITF circuit. In 2009, Keothavong broke a 16-year absence of British women in the top 50 by reaching her career high ranking of 48.
At the age of 24, nine years into her pro career, Hungarian Agnes Szavay announced her retirement from the sport. She was suffering from chronic back pain that required a risky surgery that Agnes chose not to undergo. Szavay won five WTA singles titles and her career high ranking was number 13 in 2008.
Anna Chakvetadze officially announced her retirement from tennis this year due to injury. Russian born Chakvetadze is just 26-years-old and made her WTA Tour debut in 2004. She won her first tour event in 2006 in Moscow. Her career high ranking was number five in the world.
Esther Vergeer announced her retirement from wheelchair tennis bringing an end to the most dominant career the sport has ever seen. The 31-year-old Dutch star, who celebrated 10 years without a defeat on the international wheelchair circuit has been the face of the sport for more than a decade. Vergeer’s dominance of wheelchair tennis started when she became world number one for the first time in 1999. She has been named ITF wheelchair champion for the last 13 years, winning 169 titles and ends her career on a winning streak of 470 matches. In Grand Slam tournaments, Vergeer won every singles event she entered, racking up an amazing 21 singles titles and 23 doubles titles at the majors. She also won eight Paralympic medals during her career.
