US Open, Australian Open, NEC Wheelchair Masters, French Open Doubles, Australian Open Doubles, Wimbledon Doubles, NEC Masters Doubles - 17 titles in total
-- Edited by JonH comes home on Sunday 10th of December 2023 09:19:33 AM
-- Edited by JonH comes home on Sunday 10th of December 2023 09:25:38 AM
-- Edited by JonH comes home on Sunday 10th of December 2023 09:43:37 PM
Where to go here - Billy and Jan's records are very similar. Billy maybe had the board support as a board favourite and Jan was less well publicised, so I am not sure I can split the two of them. Dan is also someone who gets so much board support but, even though I voted for him in round one, I feel his overall season doesnt quite get him to be player of the season. Reflected on that quite a bit, but no.
Jodie was like Liam in the other group, but she just didnt quite make it to player of the season IMO, great progress though she made.
So it comes down to Joe v Alfie for me - Joe, US Open and ATP Tour Finals but a drain of a season largely! But two biggies! Alfie, great all year, US and Aussie Open titles, world number one and NEC Tour Finals as well. And watching Alfie and the wheelchair players gave me so much pleasure this year, Alfie gets my vote
This is a tough group. Lots of great performances when it mattered in otherwise indifferent seasons (Dan and Neal), breakthroughs (Jodie and Jan, although neither could sustain it to the end of the season) and sustained brilliance at the highest level (Alfie).
But my vote went to Billy for keeping on and on (and on) hitting new heights and repeatedly exceeding our expectations.
I have to confess that although I know we only have 13 votes in when I post this, I am very surprised to see Evo leading the way. I love Dan's tennis as much as anyone and he is a breath of fresh air to watch. But apart from one strong spell when he won his ATP title, he has had a poor year (not help obviously by the injury at the back end). His ranking has gone backwards and he lost more matches than he won.
Of the 6 candidates here, he would probably be my last choice on this occasion.
But hey. We are all entitled to our opinions. That's what makes things so interesting.