Davenport named Sanex WTA Tour 1999 Player of the year

World No. 2 Lindsay Davenport who co-led the Sanex WTA Tour with seven singles titles in 1999 including Wimbledon, earned her second consecutive Player of the Year honour at the Tour’s Annual Awards Ceremony held last Wednesday night in Miami. Davenport, from California, was selected by a vote of tennis media around the world. She joins Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles as the only multiple winners of the Player of the Year honor, which has been awarded since 1977. “It’s a great honour to be Player of the Year and I’m happy to receive the award,” said Davenport. “I wish there could be co-players of the year, because I really think Martina (Hingis) deserves to share the award.” Davenport was also honoured by the Sanex WTA Tour worldwide tournament directors with the Diamond ACES Award for the second year in a row. This Award is presented to the player who extends herself to promote the game of tennis through off-court activities throughout the year. Hingis (SUI) together with her partner Anna Kournikova (RUS), was named Doubles Team of the Year. Other honoured players include: Serena Williams (USA) :Most Improved Player Kim Clijsters (BEL) Most Impressive Newcomer Sabine Applemans (BEL) Comeback Player of the Year Ai Sugiyama (JPN): Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award Nicole Pratt (AUS): Player Service Award Steffi Graf (GER): Most Exciting Player Award