This award is not accompanied by a check for a few million bucks, or a crystal urn to put your Grandma’s ashes in, or even a free trip to some exotic island get-away. But it is an award that will be presented to the two players who have in my opinion reached new heights in their respective careers during the past twelve months. Why two awards? One for the boys and one for the girls.

The obvious choice on the boy’s side has to be Rafael Nadal. He kicked Federer out of the number one spot, he won an epic match at Wimbledon, and he won a Gold medal in Beijing in August. But since his win in China he has done nothing. If it wasn’t for his early success on the clay courts and the number of points he accumulated prior to August, he would not be number one at year’s end. So while he is still worthy of the award, it is more of a case as who else is there? Only one player comes to mind, Andy Murray. He certainly improved over Australian open 2008 and has established himself as number four behind Nadal, Federer and Djokovic, but he has yet to win a Grand Slam, and has to date only appeared in one Major final. He won the Madrid and the Cincinnati Masters, and will proceed to the Shanghai Masters where he has to win to stand a chance of winning the Player of the Year award. If Juan Martin del Potro carries Argentine to victory in the Davis Cup, and goes on to win in Shanghai, he stands a good chance. In both tournaments he will have to face Nadal, so his chances are kinda slim. The other boys on the tour really are not worthy of consideration. Novak Djokovic started well by winning the Australian open, but by his own admission has been struggling lately with his health, he has faded as a contender.

There is no obvious choice among the girls. Since Justine Henin retired, the number one spot has been up for grabs. Maria Sharapova had it for a while, then she hurt her shoulder and has been out of action since June. Serena Williams stormed to the top spot by winning the US Open, the pulled out of the next couple of events citing a bad ankle, leaving the post vacant for either Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic or Dinard Safina. Of these three Ana looked to be the choice after she won the French Open, but she played dismally at Wimbledon and the US Open. Safina went on a 4 match win streak and looked to be poised to make her way to the top, but she failed to beat Serena in New York, and even lost at home in the Moscow Championships. Almost by default Jelena Jankovic has become the only remaining consistent player left. She has yet to win the ‘big’ one, but she keeps showing up and playing consistent enough to win against the other competitors.
So Nadal wins for the boys and Jankovic for the girls.