Maria Sharapova honoured in ITWA's year-end awards!

Maria Sharapova won the women's Player of the Year award while, in an echo of their tight duel for the No. 1 ranking, Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mauresmo were neck and neck in the voting for the women's Ambassador for Tennis award. The pair will share the honour after voting ended in a dead heat.

While she ended the year ranked No. 4, the 17-year-old Maria took the WTA Tour by storm this year, winning her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon and grabbing the season-ending WTA Championships, considered by many players to be the "fifth major." The Russian was the first player to accomplish the feat since former No. 1 Lindsay Davenport did it in 1999.
"Maria's rise to prominence has been nothing short of remarkable," said Matthew Cronin, co-president of ITWA. "She began the year ranked No. 32 with still a lot of holes in her game and ended the year as a gutsy, mature all-court player with enough weapons and determination to hang around the Top-5 for years to come."


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