TENNIS TUESDAY: Serena WTA's Player of The Year (Again!), ATP Year-End Rankings

The year end rankings of the ATP were released yesterday and there are some interesting stories buried in the Top 10:

1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) – No. 1 for the third time in four years, finishing in the Top 3 for the eighth straight year
2. Roger Federer (SUI) – Oldest year-end No. 2 (at 33 years of age), finishing in the Top 10 for the 13th straight year (tying Ivan Lendl).Andre Agassi and Jimmy Connors (16) hold the record for most Top 10 finishes
3. Rafael Nadal (ESP) – A three-time year-end No. 1 and the third left-hander – after Connors (16) and John McEnroe (10) – to finish in the Top 10 for 10 straight years
4. Stan Wawrinka (SUI) – Finished in the Top 10 for the second season in a row at a year-end high of No. 4 after winning his first Grand Slam title (Australian Open), first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters) and first Davis Cup trophy for Switzerland
5. Kei Nishikori (JPN) – First Asian to finish in the Top 10 and the first player to debut in the year-end Top 5 since Andy Murray in 2008. He was also the first Asian male to reach a Grand Slam final, at the US Open (l. to Cilic), and first Asian player to compete at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (his semi-final match against Djokovic, on 15 November, was watched by 10 million viewers on TV Asahi between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. local time in Japan)
6. Andy Murray (GBR) – Seventh consecutive finish in the Top 6
7. Tomas Berdych (CZE) – Fifth consecutive finish in the Top 10
8. Milos Raonic (CAN) – First from his country and first player born in the 1990s to finish in the Top 10.
9. Marin Cilic (CRO) – Made the biggest jump from year-end 2013 ranking of No. 37
10. David Ferrer (ESP) – Second-oldest Top 10 finisher (at 32 years of age), ending the year in the Top 10 for the fifth year in a row and sixth time overall.

On the WTA side, World #1 Serna Williams has been named Player of the Year for the 6th time in her career and the third consecutive year. She won the honor in 2002, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Only Steffi Graf (8 times) and Martina Navratilova (7 times) have been named Player of the Year more times, and these three are the only ones to have ever won it more than twice. Interestingly, Serena has only ended the Year End Rankings at #1 four times (2002, 2009, 2013 and 2014). It will be interesting to see what 2015 bring for Serena, and her sister Venus Williams, who ended the year at a very respectable #18 in the world.e