The 26-year-old Australian Samantha Stosur is the hot favourite to win the inaugural Newcombe Medal for 2010 Australian contender of the season.
Currently ranked number six in the WTA list, Stosur along with Anastasia Rodionova, Jarmila Groth and Lleyton Hewitt are the four finalists announced on Saturday. The medal will be given at the Australian Tennis Awards during the start of next month in Melbourne.
The professional tennis ace from Australia, who made her debut on the WTA tour back in 1999, started her 2010 campaign by playing at the Hopman Cup where she was upset in the opening match at the hands of Sorana Cirstea in three sets.
At the year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open back in January, the right hander was seeded number thirteen to win the title. Stosur did well to make her way into the fourth round after posting victories over Kristina Barrois, Alberta Brianti and Han
Xinyun before losing to the top seed and eventual champion Serena Williams in two sets. The final match score was 6–4, 6–2.
Her other season highlights include title victory in Charleston, runner up efforts in French Open, Stuttgart and semi-final finish at the year-ending tournament in Doha.
Anastasia Rodionova, on the other hand, also had a breakout year, capturing two gold medals at the multi-discipline event, the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and advancing into her Fed Cup debut.
The 29-year-old Hewitt, another nominee for the medal, had yet another quiet, injury-interrupted season. However he did have one impressive performance to talk about; as he snapped a lengthy losing streak versus the Swiss tennis maestro, Roger Federer by
beating him in the final of Halle. It was his 28th career singles crown on the tour.
Jarmila, another rising star from Australia, also showed her potential this season, picking up her first trophy in Guangzhou and making her way into the round of sixteen at both French Open as well as Wimbledon.
Craig Tiley, who is the director of Tennis Australia, while talking to the media said on Saturday,
“We are delighted to announce such an outstanding and committed group of athletes as our finalists for the inaugural Newcombe Medal. They have all enjoyed significant achievements and success with their tennis during 2010.”
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