Spoiler:
Young guns Ashleigh Barty and Alex De Minaur have been named as joint winners of the Newcombe medal on a historic night for Australian tennis. Judges were unable to split the pair after both enjoyed stellar seasons, ensuring Australian tennis’ highest individual honour was shared for the first time in the award’s nine-year history.
Barty joins former US Open champion and French Open finalist Samantha Stosur (2010, 2011, 2012) as only the second multiple recipient after ending 2018 as Australia’s highest-ranked player at No 15 in the world.
Ash Barty tipped to join exclusive tennis grand slam club
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Last year’s Newcombe medallist won the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, another singles title on grass in Nottingham as well as four doubles titles – including her maiden grand slam alongside American Coco Vandeweghe in New York.
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Barty amassed 46 singles wins for the season, reaching the Sydney final, semi-finals in Strasbourg, Montreal and Wuhan and making a career-best fourth-round run at the US Open in addition to her two title successes.
De Minaur could not be denied either after being named the ATP’s newcomer of the year following his meteoric rise from No 208 to a career-high 31st in the rankings in 2018.
The 19-year-old’s breakout season began with runs to the Brisbane semi-finals and Sydney final, which earned the teenager a Davis Cup debut, where he pushed then-world No 4 Alexander Zverev to five sets. He also reached the Washington final before rounding out his year with a runner-up showing at Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.
US Open quarter-finalist John Millman, who climbed to a career-high No 33 in the world after his stunning win over Roger Federer at Flushing Meadows, and wheelchair champion Dylan Alcott, who won a sixth grand slam title this year, were the other nominees for the top gong on Monday night.
A highlight of the night at Melbourne’s Crown Casino was the presentation of the spirit of tennis award to retired ace Casey Dellacqua for her outstanding achievements both on and off the court.
Darren Cahill, who guided women’s world No 1 Simona Halep to her breakthrough grand slam crown at the French Open, won the coaching excellence award.
We have some news …
… three years ago, we knew we had to try to make The Guardian sustainable by deepening our relationship with our readers. The revenues from our newspaper had diminished and the technologies that connected us with a global audience had moved advertising money away from news organisations. We knew we needed to find a way to keep our journalism open and accessible to everyone, regardless of where they live or what they can afford.
And so, we have an update for you on some good news. Thanks to all the readers who have supported our independent, investigative journalism through contributions, membership or subscriptions, we are starting to overcome the urgent financial situation we were faced with. Today we have been supported by more than a million readers around the world. Our future is starting to look brighter. But we have to maintain and build on that level of support for every year to come, which means we still need to ask for your help.
Ongoing financial support from our readers means we can continue pursuing difficult stories in the challenging times we are living through, when factual reporting has never been more critical. The Guardian is editorially independent – our journalism is free from commercial bias and not influenced by billionaire owners, politicians or shareholders. This is important because it enables us to challenge the powerful and hold them to account. With your support, we can continue bringing The Guardian’s independent journalism to the world.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.
Barty joins former US Open champion and French Open finalist Samantha Stosur (2010, 2011, 2012) as only the second multiple recipient after ending 2018 as Australia’s highest-ranked player at No 15 in the world.
Ash Barty tipped to join exclusive tennis grand slam club
Read more
Last year’s Newcombe medallist won the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, another singles title on grass in Nottingham as well as four doubles titles – including her maiden grand slam alongside American Coco Vandeweghe in New York.
Advertisement
Barty amassed 46 singles wins for the season, reaching the Sydney final, semi-finals in Strasbourg, Montreal and Wuhan and making a career-best fourth-round run at the US Open in addition to her two title successes.
De Minaur could not be denied either after being named the ATP’s newcomer of the year following his meteoric rise from No 208 to a career-high 31st in the rankings in 2018.
The 19-year-old’s breakout season began with runs to the Brisbane semi-finals and Sydney final, which earned the teenager a Davis Cup debut, where he pushed then-world No 4 Alexander Zverev to five sets. He also reached the Washington final before rounding out his year with a runner-up showing at Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.
US Open quarter-finalist John Millman, who climbed to a career-high No 33 in the world after his stunning win over Roger Federer at Flushing Meadows, and wheelchair champion Dylan Alcott, who won a sixth grand slam title this year, were the other nominees for the top gong on Monday night.
A highlight of the night at Melbourne’s Crown Casino was the presentation of the spirit of tennis award to retired ace Casey Dellacqua for her outstanding achievements both on and off the court.
Darren Cahill, who guided women’s world No 1 Simona Halep to her breakthrough grand slam crown at the French Open, won the coaching excellence award.
We have some news …
… three years ago, we knew we had to try to make The Guardian sustainable by deepening our relationship with our readers. The revenues from our newspaper had diminished and the technologies that connected us with a global audience had moved advertising money away from news organisations. We knew we needed to find a way to keep our journalism open and accessible to everyone, regardless of where they live or what they can afford.
And so, we have an update for you on some good news. Thanks to all the readers who have supported our independent, investigative journalism through contributions, membership or subscriptions, we are starting to overcome the urgent financial situation we were faced with. Today we have been supported by more than a million readers around the world. Our future is starting to look brighter. But we have to maintain and build on that level of support for every year to come, which means we still need to ask for your help.
Ongoing financial support from our readers means we can continue pursuing difficult stories in the challenging times we are living through, when factual reporting has never been more critical. The Guardian is editorially independent – our journalism is free from commercial bias and not influenced by billionaire owners, politicians or shareholders. This is important because it enables us to challenge the powerful and hold them to account. With your support, we can continue bringing The Guardian’s independent journalism to the world.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.