1998: The Season In Review

Player of the Year: LINDSAY DAVENPORT
Not that Lindsay dominated the WHOLE year, but she probably pulled in some of the best results throughout the season. She started the year slowly, winning only one title in Tokyo for the first six months. Then the US hardcourt season began. Lindsay dominated the whole US hardcourt season, winning three back-to-back titles in California, defeating Venus Williams at Stanford, Mary Pierce in San Diego and Martina Hingis in Los Angeles in respective finals. And then came her Grand Slam breakthrough at the US Open, where she won the championship without dropping a set! Since Wimbledon, she has not lost before the semi-finals of a WTA event, and since the US Open, she has reached the finals of all of the WTA events she has participated in. Lindsay leads the tour with an impressive six tournament titles and four runner-up finishes to her credit this year. Not only this but she has bettered all of her previous performances at the Grand Slams, reaching the semis at the Australian and French Opens and the quarters at Wimbledon before her stunning success at New York. Because of all this, she finishes the year as #1 for the first time in her career.

Best Grand Slam Performer: MARTINA HINGIS
She won the Australian Open, becoming the youngest player to ever successfully defend a Grand Slam singles title. However, it was all downhill from there. She could only manage semi-final finishes at the French Open and Wimbledon, getting trumped by 'geriatrics' Monica Seles and Jana Novotna respectively. She was then able to reach the finals at the US Open after some hard-fought matches in her earlier rounds, especially against her earlier Grand Slam foes, Monica Seles (in the quarters) and Jana Novotna (in the semis). All downhill? Yup! It was obvious early into the season that Martina would not be able to pull off as dominating a year as the previous one, where she was on the brink of achieving the coveted "Grand Slam", the most prized achievement in tennis. Nonetheless, while she didn't win three Grand Slam titles and reach the final of the other, she still pulled off a very successful 1998 campaign in the majors. No doubt she's expecting much more in the 1999 season.

Breakthrough Player of the Year: JANA NOVOTNA
Most people would normally give this one to a player who has come from nowhere the previous year to achieve some big results in this season. In my mind, the old-timer Jana Novotna is the breakthrough player of the year as she battled with her infamous nerves and overcame what horrendous history she has had to record her first ever Grand Slam victory at Wimbledon. No one needs to be told about the infamous debacle at the 1993 Wimbledon final when Jana led 4-1 in the third set to Steffi Graf, only to have been worn down by nerves to lose the third set (and the championship match) 6-4. She was in a similar, but not quite as dramatic, position the year before when she led Martina Hingis a set and a break up in the Wimbledon final before squandering her chances. She was termed the best player to never have won a major. But the Duchess of York was right. It would be third time lucky for the previously unlucky Czech. She battled Martina Hingis in the semis to come away with a straight set victory, only to have the Wimbledon trophy staring right at her face as Nathalie Tauziat, the little-known French player, had reached her first ever Grand Slam final.

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