2024 Player of the Season Wild Card Nominations

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

RE: 2024 Player of the Season Wild Card Nominations

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Wildcard nominations and reason:
1 - Heather Watson - most nominated player for the player of the month who hasnt qualified - 7 times - and also won our favourite British player vote back in Feb. She must have done well this season to get so many nominations and be so popular! Seriously, she won a W50 title in Nottingham this season and is also our third best ranked doubles player

2 - Paul Jubb - without having any really spectacular performances apart from reaching the semi final of the Mallorca ATP250, Paul has nevertheless consistently performed well over the year and raised his ranking from 793 at the end of last year to a career high of 180 by the end of November.

3 - Jodie Burrage - for sensibly entering end of season lower level tournaments after a long injury break and saving her PR for 2025. In doing so she reached SFs at W35 and W50, the final of the W75 in Trnava and subsequently won the W100 in Dubai, the biggest tournament win of her career, thereby taking her ranking back into the top 200. Before injury struck, Jodie made the QF of a WTA 500 in early season and hit a CH of 85 before a season of great promise was derailed. She has now set herself up perfectly for The Australian Open in January.

4 - Emily Appleton - for winning 5 doubles titles at at least W75 level ( 4 W75s & a WTA 125 ) with 5 different partners and entering the doubles top 100. Also in July reached a singles CH 348

5 - Madeleine Brooks - for having a breakout year, winning 4 titles during 2024 (a W50 and 3 W75s) with three different partners. Before this year, Madeleine had only reached (and lost) two finals at W25 level. Apart from winning those titles, she's consistently gone deep in other tournaments, reaching the final on 4 further occasions. As a result, she's raised her ranking from 287 at the end of 2023 to her current CH of 127.

6 - Johannus Monday - moving from a strong college career which he finished in May as the No 2 ranked man and briefly being ranked No 1 in early May, JoMo really hit the pro ranks hard this summer and ended up taking 4 ITF M25 titles on US Hardcourts, backed up with 2 M25 doubles titles and a Challenger doubles title at Knoxville. Over the year, he has improved his ranking from 724 to a high of 369 this year and is one of our men players to watch in 2025

7 - Anna McBride - despite injury and illness issues throughout the year, para tennis player Anna managed some great results, including defending her singles and doubles titles at the Australian Open and later in the year becoming World Champion at the championships in France. Even when recovering from injury and (thanks to incompetence by the LTA) relatively unprepared, she showed her fighting spirit by playing competitively against much better prepared opponents. (I'd also like to acknowledge how much we owe to Anna's father for posting updates here and patiently explaining the ins and outs of para tennis to us. It's been a great addition to this place.)

8 - Emile Hudd - Has made great strides again this year, in singles rising from around 900 to the edge of the top 500; and winning 4 ITF titles in the doubles. In singles he has notched up a 60 percent win loss record in the process, playing in a lot of far flung places to amass the points.

9 - Jack Pinnington-Jones - Starting the US College team season in January as TCU's No 2 he stepped up to be their No 1 in early March when Jake was injured, and went 15-2 at No 1. His performances were so impressive that he prevented Jake from regaining being TCU's No 1 when he returned from injury. JPJ went unbeaten in team college play as TCU's No 1 through April and May playing a leading role in helping TCU to be US College National Champions and the No 1 ranked team. He finished the 2024 US College season ranked No 6. Focussing on the pro-game since June he has increased his ranking around 400 places from the 770s to the 370s, taking 1 M25 title and being runner-up in another.

10 - Dan Evans - so, Dan had a torrid season, really poor. But he did a couple of amazing things. First he chose not to defend his Washington title so he could partner his pal, Andy Murray, in the Olympics, collapsing down the rankings through not defending his points. And did he partner Andy as they staved off certain defeat twice and came back to epic wins in reaching the last 8. As if that wasnt enough, Dan arrived in New York facing a winter of challenger events; and in New York, he stayed around, for 5 1/2 hours in the longest ever US Open match in beating Khachanov, a feat recognised today by the ATP as their grand slam comeback of the year. It may have been a bad season for him - but the highlights sure stood out.

11 - Daniela Britton - despite having turned 14 only in November (and therefore young compared to most of the 2010 cohort), Daniela has won 3 singles titles (2 x J30, 1 x J60) and 3 doubles titles (1 x J30, 2 x J60) in 2024. This includes winning both singles and doubles at the J60 event in Finland. During the year, she reached a career high in the junior rankings of 455, putting her in the top 20 worldwide for her age group.

12 - Daniela Piani - Daniela may have been a relatively slow developer, but 2024 has seen her have a breakout year as a 16/17 year old. She's won 4 singles titles at J100 level (Glasgow, Loughborough, Stavanger and Loughborough) and also won the doubles title at the first J100 Loughborough event in March. She'll end the year with a big jump in her ranking since the start of the year and a new CH.

13 - Emily Webley-Smith - 40 years young and great to see little reduction in the enthusiasm to keep competing in times when so much is made about younger players, particularly by the LTA. 2 W35 doubles finals this year, 26 ITF doubles events in the last year and she will end the year in the top 500 again, the 21st successive year she has been in the top 500. Keep on trucking ...

14 Andy Murray. It's the last year he has played in. His determination to get the most out of last few months of his career was evident, and the doubles matches with Dan in Paris were great. The last chance to name him Player of the Season, and after all the board is named after him. He has inspired so many players and no doubt will continue to help GB tennis (once Djokovic has finished).

15 - Millie Rajecki - Finished her US College career with a singles ranking of No 2, the highest singles ranking ever for a British female in US College tennis as well as the highest ranking ever in her team's history. Was named the ITA Senior Player of the Year. Reached the NCAA singles semi-final for the 2nd consecutive year. In her first month as a full-time pro, got 2 top 100 ranking wins at WTA250 in Birmingham and has since continued to make steady progress up the rankings. Won 2 doubles titles including the W100 in Shrewsbury with Mimi, her biggest title to date.

16. Marcus Willis for entering the doubles top 100 for the first time in his career and achieving a CH of 81. And he's a nice chap...

17. Mimi Xu - just turned 17 yo in October, still as a 16yo in senior ITFs she won a singles W35 title in Aldershot plus 4 doubles titles - a W100 ( with Amelia Rajecki ), 2 W35s and a W15. She improved her WTA CHs to 442 in singles and 293 in doubles. In Junior Slams she made a singles SF ( US Open ) and QF and at least QF in all 4 doubles, reaching the Wimbledon final with Mika Stojsavljevic.

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Just tidying up - 3 spaces left now, remember list will be closed end of Sunday coming

indiana · Tennis legend

Hmm, yes I somehow untidied at least the end of the post.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Hmm, yes I somehow untidied at least the end of the post.

A stray 66 was the extent of my tidying tbh!

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

6 days left for nominations now, 3 places available

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

5 days left, 3 places still available

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

4 days left as we count down - any one for another nomination? Ive run out of ideas myself but anyone torn it up and won lots of titles at ITF or junior levels?! Ella topped the wins table but shes happily in, anyone in the next tier down?

Or anyone jumped the rankings in singles or doubles who deserves the shout out?

Wheelchair, I wondered about Greg Slade but Im not totally sold. Anyone else? Gordon Reid reached the Masters final and helped us to a World Team Cup?

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Wednesday 18th of December 2024 09:33:42 PM

the addict · Tennis legend

Wildcard nominations and reason:

1 - Heather Watson - most nominated player for the player of the month who hasnt qualified - 7 times - and also won our favourite British player vote back in Feb. She must have done well this season to get so many nominations and be so popular! Seriously, she won a W50 title in Nottingham this season and is also our third best ranked doubles player

2 - Paul Jubb - without having any really spectacular performances apart from reaching the semi final of the Mallorca ATP250, Paul has nevertheless consistently performed well over the year and raised his ranking from 793 at the end of last year to a career high of 180 by the end of November.

3 - Jodie Burrage - for sensibly entering end of season lower level tournaments after a long injury break and saving her PR for 2025. In doing so she reached SFs at W35 and W50, the final of the W75 in Trnava and subsequently won the W100 in Dubai, the biggest tournament win of her career, thereby taking her ranking back into the top 200. Before injury struck, Jodie made the QF of a WTA 500 in early season and hit a CH of 85 before a season of great promise was derailed. She has now set herself up perfectly for The Australian Open in January.

4 - Emily Appleton - for winning 5 doubles titles at at least W75 level ( 4 W75s & a WTA 125 ) with 5 different partners and entering the doubles top 100. Also in July reached a singles CH 348

5 - Madeleine Brooks - for having a breakout year, winning 4 titles during 2024 (a W50 and 3 W75s) with three different partners. Before this year, Madeleine had only reached (and lost) two finals at W25 level. Apart from winning those titles, she's consistently gone deep in other tournaments, reaching the final on 4 further occasions. As a result, she's raised her ranking from 287 at the end of 2023 to her current CH of 127.

6 - Johannus Monday - moving from a strong college career which he finished in May as the No 2 ranked man and briefly being ranked No 1 in early May, JoMo really hit the pro ranks hard this summer and ended up taking 4 ITF M25 titles on US Hardcourts, backed up with 2 M25 doubles titles and a Challenger doubles title at Knoxville. Over the year, he has improved his ranking from 724 to a high of 369 this year and is one of our men players to watch in 2025

7 - Anna McBride - despite injury and illness issues throughout the year, para tennis player Anna managed some great results, including defending her singles and doubles titles at the Australian Open and later in the year becoming World Champion at the championships in France. Even when recovering from injury and (thanks to incompetence by the LTA) relatively unprepared, she showed her fighting spirit by playing competitively against much better prepared opponents. (I'd also like to acknowledge how much we owe to Anna's father for posting updates here and patiently explaining the ins and outs of para tennis to us. It's been a great addition to this place.)

8 - Emile Hudd - Has made great strides again this year, in singles rising from around 900 to the edge of the top 500; and winning 4 ITF titles in the doubles. In singles he has notched up a 60 percent win loss record in the process, playing in a lot of far flung places to amass the points.

9 - Jack Pinnington-Jones - Starting the US College team season in January as TCU's No 2 he stepped up to be their No 1 in early March when Jake was injured, and went 15-2 at No 1. His performances were so impressive that he prevented Jake from regaining being TCU's No 1 when he returned from injury. JPJ went unbeaten in team college play as TCU's No 1 through April and May playing a leading role in helping TCU to be US College National Champions and the No 1 ranked team. He finished the 2024 US College season ranked No 6. Focussing on the pro-game since June he has increased his ranking around 400 places from the 770s to the 370s, taking 1 M25 title and being runner-up in another.

10 - Dan Evans - so, Dan had a torrid season, really poor. But he did a couple of amazing things. First he chose not to defend his Washington title so he could partner his pal, Andy Murray, in the Olympics, collapsing down the rankings through not defending his points. And did he partner Andy as they staved off certain defeat twice and came back to epic wins in reaching the last 8. As if that wasnt enough, Dan arrived in New York facing a winter of challenger events; and in New York, he stayed around, for 5 1/2 hours in the longest ever US Open match in beating Khachanov, a feat recognised today by the ATP as their grand slam comeback of the year. It may have been a bad season for him - but the highlights sure stood out.

11 - Daniela Britton - despite having turned 14 only in November (and therefore young compared to most of the 2010 cohort), Daniela has won 3 singles titles (2 x J30, 1 x J60) and 3 doubles titles (1 x J30, 2 x J60) in 2024. This includes winning both singles and doubles at the J60 event in Finland. During the year, she reached a career high in the junior rankings of 455, putting her in the top 20 worldwide for her age group.

12 - Daniela Piani - Daniela may have been a relatively slow developer, but 2024 has seen her have a breakout year as a 16/17 year old. She's won 4 singles titles at J100 level (Glasgow, Loughborough, Stavanger and Loughborough) and also won the doubles title at the first J100 Loughborough event in March. She'll end the year with a big jump in her ranking since the start of the year and a new CH.

13 - Emily Webley-Smith - 40 years young and great to see little reduction in the enthusiasm to keep competing in times when so much is made about younger players, particularly by the LTA. 2 W35 doubles finals this year, 26 ITF doubles events in the last year and she will end the year in the top 500 again, the 21st successive year she has been in the top 500. Keep on trucking ...

14 Andy Murray. It's the last year he has played in. His determination to get the most out of last few months of his career was evident, and the doubles matches with Dan in Paris were great. The last chance to name him Player of the Season, and after all the board is named after him. He has inspired so many players and no doubt will continue to help GB tennis (once Djokovic has finished).

15 - Millie Rajecki - Finished her US College career with a singles ranking of No 2, the highest singles ranking ever for a British female in US College tennis as well as the highest ranking ever in her team's history. Was named the ITA Senior Player of the Year. Reached the NCAA singles semi-final for the 2nd consecutive year. In her first month as a full-time pro, got 2 top 100 ranking wins at WTA250 in Birmingham and has since continued to make steady progress up the rankings. Won 2 doubles titles including the W100 in Shrewsbury with Mimi, her biggest title to date.

16. Marcus Willis for entering the doubles top 100 for the first time in his career and achieving a CH of 81. And he's a nice chap...

17. Mimi Xu - just turned 17 yo in October, still as a 16yo in senior ITFs she won a singles W35 title in Aldershot plus 4 doubles titles - a W100 ( with Amelia Rajecki ), 2 W35s and a W15. She improved her WTA CHs to 442 in singles and 293 in doubles. In Junior Slams she made a singles SF ( US Open ) and QF and at least QF in all 4 doubles, reaching the Wimbledon final with Mika Stojsavljevic.

18. Holly Hutchinson for winning six doubles titles this year including a W50 in November with Ella McDonald and climbing to a career high of 263 earlier in the year. At the same time she's building an off-court career in media management with a growing number of clients.

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the addict · Tennis legend

OK JonH, you finally prodded me into joining in.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Oh, nice call, TA. 2 slots left now.

the addict · Tennis legend

I looked at your list of players from a couple of days ago, but didn't feel inclined to nominate any of them, so looked at the list of doubles winners ............

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

the addict wrote:
OK JonH, you finally prodded me into joining in.

biggrin

Holly is a good call and there are probably others out there of similar merit worthiness.

Thanks for nominating her.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

3 days left , or just over, if anyone wants to fill the final two places? If not, its cool, we have a great group of 18 nominees

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

the addict wrote:
Wildcard nominations and reason:

1 - Heather Watson - most nominated player for the player of the month who hasnt qualified - 7 times - and also won our favourite British player vote back in Feb. She must have done well this season to get so many nominations and be so popular! Seriously, she won a W50 title in Nottingham this season and is also our third best ranked doubles player

2 - Paul Jubb - without having any really spectacular performances apart from reaching the semi final of the Mallorca ATP250, Paul has nevertheless consistently performed well over the year and raised his ranking from 793 at the end of last year to a career high of 180 by the end of November.

3 - Jodie Burrage - for sensibly entering end of season lower level tournaments after a long injury break and saving her PR for 2025. In doing so she reached SFs at W35 and W50, the final of the W75 in Trnava and subsequently won the W100 in Dubai, the biggest tournament win of her career, thereby taking her ranking back into the top 200. Before injury struck, Jodie made the QF of a WTA 500 in early season and hit a CH of 85 before a season of great promise was derailed. She has now set herself up perfectly for The Australian Open in January.

4 - Emily Appleton - for winning 5 doubles titles at at least W75 level ( 4 W75s & a WTA 125 ) with 5 different partners and entering the doubles top 100. Also in July reached a singles CH 348

5 - Madeleine Brooks - for having a breakout year, winning 4 titles during 2024 (a W50 and 3 W75s) with three different partners. Before this year, Madeleine had only reached (and lost) two finals at W25 level. Apart from winning those titles, she's consistently gone deep in other tournaments, reaching the final on 4 further occasions. As a result, she's raised her ranking from 287 at the end of 2023 to her current CH of 127.

6 - Johannus Monday - moving from a strong college career which he finished in May as the No 2 ranked man and briefly being ranked No 1 in early May, JoMo really hit the pro ranks hard this summer and ended up taking 4 ITF M25 titles on US Hardcourts, backed up with 2 M25 doubles titles and a Challenger doubles title at Knoxville. Over the year, he has improved his ranking from 724 to a high of 369 this year and is one of our men players to watch in 2025

7 - Anna McBride - despite injury and illness issues throughout the year, para tennis player Anna managed some great results, including defending her singles and doubles titles at the Australian Open and later in the year becoming World Champion at the championships in France. Even when recovering from injury and (thanks to incompetence by the LTA) relatively unprepared, she showed her fighting spirit by playing competitively against much better prepared opponents. (I'd also like to acknowledge how much we owe to Anna's father for posting updates here and patiently explaining the ins and outs of para tennis to us. It's been a great addition to this place.)

8 - Emile Hudd - Has made great strides again this year, in singles rising from around 900 to the edge of the top 500; and winning 4 ITF titles in the doubles. In singles he has notched up a 60 percent win loss record in the process, playing in a lot of far flung places to amass the points.

9 - Jack Pinnington-Jones - Starting the US College team season in January as TCU's No 2 he stepped up to be their No 1 in early March when Jake was injured, and went 15-2 at No 1. His performances were so impressive that he prevented Jake from regaining being TCU's No 1 when he returned from injury. JPJ went unbeaten in team college play as TCU's No 1 through April and May playing a leading role in helping TCU to be US College National Champions and the No 1 ranked team. He finished the 2024 US College season ranked No 6. Focussing on the pro-game since June he has increased his ranking around 400 places from the 770s to the 370s, taking 1 M25 title and being runner-up in another.

10 - Dan Evans - so, Dan had a torrid season, really poor. But he did a couple of amazing things. First he chose not to defend his Washington title so he could partner his pal, Andy Murray, in the Olympics, collapsing down the rankings through not defending his points. And did he partner Andy as they staved off certain defeat twice and came back to epic wins in reaching the last 8. As if that wasnt enough, Dan arrived in New York facing a winter of challenger events; and in New York, he stayed around, for 5 1/2 hours in the longest ever US Open match in beating Khachanov, a feat recognised today by the ATP as their grand slam comeback of the year. It may have been a bad season for him - but the highlights sure stood out.

11 - Daniela Britton - despite having turned 14 only in November (and therefore young compared to most of the 2010 cohort), Daniela has won 3 singles titles (2 x J30, 1 x J60) and 3 doubles titles (1 x J30, 2 x J60) in 2024. This includes winning both singles and doubles at the J60 event in Finland. During the year, she reached a career high in the junior rankings of 455, putting her in the top 20 worldwide for her age group.

12 - Daniela Piani - Daniela may have been a relatively slow developer, but 2024 has seen her have a breakout year as a 16/17 year old. She's won 4 singles titles at J100 level (Glasgow, Loughborough, Stavanger and Loughborough) and also won the doubles title at the first J100 Loughborough event in March. She'll end the year with a big jump in her ranking since the start of the year and a new CH.

13 - Emily Webley-Smith - 40 years young and great to see little reduction in the enthusiasm to keep competing in times when so much is made about younger players, particularly by the LTA. 2 W35 doubles finals this year, 26 ITF doubles events in the last year and she will end the year in the top 500 again, the 21st successive year she has been in the top 500. Keep on trucking ...

14 Andy Murray. It's the last year he has played in. His determination to get the most out of last few months of his career was evident, and the doubles matches with Dan in Paris were great. The last chance to name him Player of the Season, and after all the board is named after him. He has inspired so many players and no doubt will continue to help GB tennis (once Djokovic has finished).

15 - Millie Rajecki - Finished her US College career with a singles ranking of No 2, the highest singles ranking ever for a British female in US College tennis as well as the highest ranking ever in her team's history. Was named the ITA Senior Player of the Year. Reached the NCAA singles semi-final for the 2nd consecutive year. In her first month as a full-time pro, got 2 top 100 ranking wins at WTA250 in Birmingham and has since continued to make steady progress up the rankings. Won 2 doubles titles including the W100 in Shrewsbury with Mimi, her biggest title to date.

16. Marcus Willis for entering the doubles top 100 for the first time in his career and achieving a CH of 81. And he's a nice chap...

17. Mimi Xu - just turned 17 yo in October, still as a 16yo in senior ITFs she won a singles W35 title in Aldershot plus 4 doubles titles - a W100 ( with Amelia Rajecki ), 2 W35s and a W15. She improved her WTA CHs to 442 in singles and 293 in doubles. In Junior Slams she made a singles SF ( US Open ) and QF and at least QF in all 4 doubles, reaching the Wimbledon final with Mika Stojsavljevic.

18. Holly Hutchinson for winning six doubles titles this year including a W50 in November with Ella McDonald and climbing to a career high of 263 earlier in the year. At the same time she's building an off-court career in media management with a growing number of clients.

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A reminder these will close at midnight Sunday night. Vote as originally planned will be Jan 1st to 3rd.

so, 2 days for nominations left, 2 places left to fill if youre thinking of nominating someone at this late stage. A name not mentioned previously is Scott Watson, who won the Tennis Europe Masters and took the year end top ranking.