Another season of tennis is nearly done and dusted, and this year was one which saw a couple of the brightest stars we’ve seen in a long time establish themselves at the top of their respective world rankings. Elsewhere, a few more experienced names continued to enjoy plenty of success, while some rose to prominence after years in the doldrums. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the five best tennis players of 2022.
Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek rose to prominence when she won the 2020 French Open at the age of just 19, but this year has been by far the best of her career. She started it by making a semi-final at the Australian Open before winning at Roland Garros for the second time, and she went on to add a third major to her trophy cabinet later in the year at the US Open. On top of that, she made a huge seven other WTA Finals, and incredibly won six of them – usually with consummate ease. In her first seven wins of the season – included in which are the French Open and US Open wins – she didn’t drop a set in the final, and in the first six of those she lost less than four games on average per match. It was a dominant season by any stretch of the imagination, and sees her atop the world rankings with 10,335 points – second place has a comparatively meagre 4,555. At just 21 years of age she has separated herself from the pack as completely peerless, and as an indication of just how far ahead of that pack she is, PlayUp Australia in their early markets have her nearly three times shorter to win the 2023 Australian Open than any of her competitors.
Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz has enjoyed a rapid rise in 2022. Just 18 years old at the beginning of the season, there were already high expectations surrounding him and a quarter-final appearance at the US Open to end 2021 did nothing to dull them. Few, however, could have predicted just how good he would be already this year. After a third round exit at the Australian Open, he made a quarter-final at Roland Garros, a fourth round at Wimbledon and then won the US Open, in doing so becoming the youngest world number one in the history of male tennis. And he’s not likely to go anywhere fast, with betting sites installing him as one of the favourites for the Australian Open in 2023 – the next Grand Slam on the calendar. A talented all-court player who has drawn comparisons to a number of different superstars who have preceded him, the Spaniard won’t turn 20 until May of next year, and if he continues on the trajectory that he is currently on, will be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come.
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal is at the opposite end of his career to Alcaraz, but the two are side by side in the ATP world rankings. Having not won a Grand Slam title since 2020, Nadal started the year in fine form by winning the Australian Open, in doing so becoming the first man to win 21 Grand Slam titles – breaking the three-way tie he shared with Federer and Djokovic, two of his long-time rivals. He unsurprisingly backed that up at Roland Garros to move to 22, with that being an incredible 14th title at the French Open out of 18 appearances. He also made a semi-final at Wimbledon before being bundled out in the fourth round at the US Open, but regardless, at 36 years of age, the man affectionately known as Rafa still appears to have plenty to give.
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Stefanos Tsitsipas hasn’t enjoyed the same level of success – at least at a Grand Slam level – as the above two names this year, but he’s still done enough to achieve a career high world ranking of three. He started his year with a semi-final appearance at the Australian Open, though his Grand Slam performance has steadily declined since; he was knocked out in the fourth round at Roland Garros, the third round at Wimbledon, and the first round at the US Open. He has, however, had a great time of it in non-majors. Having previously made three ATP Masters 1000 Finals in his career, he doubled that number in 2022, making it to the final two at the Monte-Carlo Masters, Italian Open and Cincinnati Masters. He lost two of those, but nonetheless it was a strong year for the Athenian, and at just 24 years of age he still has plenty of room to continue his upward trajectory.
Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur is probably not a name many would have expected to see on such a list at the beginning of the year. She’s been on tour for a decade, but it’s only since 2020 that she’s consistently started making it past the early stages of Grand Slams. Until this year, that hadn’t manifested in anything more than a couple of quarter-finals, but after missing the Australian Open and then losing her opening match at Roland Garros, she rolled through to consecutive finals at Wimbledon and US Open. Unfortunately she went down in both of them – the first to Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina and the second to the rampaging Iga Swiatek – but nonetheless this year was a massive step forward for her, and she has skyrocketed to the number two ranking in the world as a result.
2022 has been an intriguing season of tennis, and come its end it appears likely that two players aged 21 and under will find themselves sitting atop the ATP and WTA world rankings. Iga Swiatek, in particular, has been extraordinary this year, putting together one of the best seasons in living memory, while Carlos Alcatraz has also established himself as a star not just of the future, but of today. Elsewhere, Rafael Nadal has continued his extraordinary career, Stefanos Tsitsipas has capitalised on his ability, and Ons Jabeur has made a surprise rise to the top, and it’s these five players who have earned the right to be called the best of 2022.
