Alcaraz and Sinner share spoils in controversial year, while Sabalenka dominates – Firstpost

The year 2024 has been eventful for the world of tennis. Tennis has had its ups and downs, emotional farewells, quite a bit of controversy and so on! This year, Spaniard Rafael Nadal made the difficult decision to quit tennis, while another Spaniard, Carlos Alcaraz, proved that he is here to dominate the world stage for a while.

But Alcaraz is not the only one who has enjoyed success. There’s world number 1 Jannik Sinner, who was embroiled in a doping controversy but still had plenty to celebrate. Oh, and not forgetting Novak Djokovic, who added another feather to his cap with an Olympic gold medal. Women’s tennis has been dominated by Aryna Sabalenka while Iga Swiatek has endured something of a mixed bag.

Carlos Alcaraz becomes MVP

Carlos Alcaraz has had an excellent start to the year. Even though his 2024 Australian Open did not go as planned, where he was ousted in the quarterfinals, a double Grand Slam triumph,
win the French Open and the
Wimbledonwere enough for him to get started this year. In fact, this triumph at Roland Garros was special for Alcaraz. Not only did he clinch his first title at Roland Garros, but it also made the 21-year-old the youngest man to win Grand Slam titles on all three courts, hard, grass and clay.

Alcaraz’s 2024 turned out to be even better when he successfully defended his Wimbledon crown. And it was an even tougher test on paper, with the final coming against Novak Djokovic, who currently has the most Grand Slams (24). Alcaraz, however, achieved the impossible by defeating the Serb in straight sets with a margin of 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4).

Then came the Paris Olympics. As well as injuries. During his second round singles match against Tallon Griekspoor in Paris, Alcaraz revealed that he was suffering from a groin injury. Yet that didn’t stop him from realizing his dream of playing with Rafael Nadal in doubles, and he also made it all the way to the singles final in Paris, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.

But in August, Alcaraz
twisted his right ankle while training ahead of the US Openand his struggles were evident
with the fact that he suffered a second round elimination at Flushing Meadows. However, a month later, Alcaraz guided Team Europe to the Laver Cup title and also won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek and a year of doping controversies

Of course, Jannik Sinner has had a pretty remarkable year. Become world number 1 in the ATP rankings and win the Australian Open and US Open titles. Among his titles at the tour level, seven of those titles have been won on hard courts, and the Italian has maintained a 53-3 win-loss record on the said surface.

A doping controversy cast a shadow over his success, however, as he finished 2024 as the men’s number one. Sinner failed two doping tests in March this year. However, the
A 23-year-old escaped a banafter the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) confirmed that Clostebol, a substance banned by WADA, was inadvertently entered into Sinner’s system by another team member.

“This support team member applied the spray between March 5 and 13, during which time they also provided daily massage and sports therapy to Sinner, which resulted in unintentional transdermal contamination,” says a ITIA press release.

Poland’s Iga Swiatek is another player caught in the middle of a doping controversy. Swiatek tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ) during an out-of-competition doping test in August.
She finally accepted a one-month suspension in November after claiming that the consumption of the substance was unintentional and was caused by contamination of the over-the-counter drug melatonin.

Although a common factor in Sinner and Swiatek’s doping cases is that both claim to have taken drugs unintentionally, this raises a question of favoritism toward top tennis players. Doping problems in tennis are expected to continue until 2025, with
WADA is even appealing the decision to exonerate Sinnerfor whom the anti-doping body is requesting a two-year suspension.

Aryna Sabalenka shines

Aryna Sabalenka is currently living her dream in world tennis. She won the opening Australian Open as well as the season-ending US Open and, apart from the Grand Slans, she also won the Cincinnati Open and the Wuhan Open. However, she withdrew from Wimbledon this year due to a shoulder injury and skipped the Paris Olympics to “take care of her health”.

Despite these setbacks, the Belarusian athlete will finish the year in first place in the world in the WTA rankings and even recently won the WTA Player of the Year award.

Rafael Nadal retires

One of the most emotional moments, not only in tennis, but in sports in general, was the retirement of Rafael Nadal. The clay court king had not been at his best recently, having suffered from injuries over the past two years and even suffering a second round elimination at the French Open.

With the Paris Olympics in mind, Nadal had also skipped Wimbledon. His second-round singles match against Novak Djokovic at the Paris Olympics was one of the Spaniard’s highlights this year.

Many thanks to all
A big thank you to everyone
Thank you very much everyone
Grazie mille à tutti
谢谢大家
شكرا لكم جميعا
תודה לכולכם
Obrigado a todos
Vielen Dank euch allen
Tack go
Хвала свима
Thanks to the little ones pic.twitter.com/7yPRs7QrOi

– Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) October 10, 2024

A few months after the Olympic Games, in November,
Nadal has announced his retirement from professional tennis.

“Hello everyone, I am here to announce that I am retiring from professional tennis. The reality is it’s been a tough few years, especially the last two. I don’t think I could have played without limits. “It’s obviously a difficult decision, one that took me a long time to make,” he said in a video posted on social media.

Nadal’s retirement marked the end of a glorious chapter in tennis history, but he leaves an everlasting impact on the generation of players to come.