With the Newcombe medal, the Australian Tennis Association honours the best tennis professional of the year. Returning Ashleigh Barty should have a good chance of winning the award.
If we were to look at the short-term memory, John Peers would have the best chance of winning the Newcombe Medal 2017 – traditionally awarded to the best tennis pro from the fifth continent – and next Monday the winner will be chosen.
Peers finished the year as the winner and won the double title in the ATP finals with his partner Henri Kontinen. And this with a convincing final victory against the Wimbledon winners Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.
Daria Gavrilova could certainly make friends with Peers as the winner, but a better choice for the Australian with Russian roots would be a colleague: Ashleigh Barty,”I think she will win,” Gavrilova told Sydney Morning Herald,”she’s had such a great year, I’m really proud of her. Ashleigh played very good tennis.”
In fact, Barty not only clinched her first title on the tour in Malaysia, but also secured a place at the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai with strong performances, especially in the autumn, where she first lost in the semi-final Coco Vandweghe. Before that, she had made it to the final in Wuhan, where she had a chance to win her second career title against Caroline Garcia. And all this after Barty, who has taken a 17-month break from the tour, has taken a unique style on the women’s tour.
For Gavrilova herself, the past campaign has also been crowned with success: the 23-year-old succeeded in New Haven, finishing the year as number 25 – eight places behind Barty. No wonder, then, that the name Daria Gavrilova is also on the candidate list for the Newcombe Medal. There is competition from the male side not only from John Peers, but also from Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson.