Have you ever wondered if there is any annual ceremony called Raquette D’Or to honour the best in Tennis? Well, here’s everything you need to know
The Ballon d’Or award in football is awarded by French Football which honours the best footballers and teams of the past season. Have you ever wondered if there’s something like that in Tennis? Well, not exactly but Tennis did have something named the ‘Raquette D’Or’ in the past. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
The Raquette D’Or was a tennis tournament which was held way back in 1977 in Aix-en-Provence of France. The tournament was a part of the one-star category of the 1977 Grand Prix Circuit. It was played on outdoor clay courts and was held from 26 September until 2 October 1977.
The 1977 edition was the inaugural edition of this tournament. Ilie Nastase won the singles title back then in a five-set final against Guillermo Vilas. The doubles title was won by Ilie Nastase and his partner Ion Tiriac.
If Tennis were to have such an award, Rafael Nadal in men’s tennis and Iga Swiatek in women’s category would certainly be the favourites to win the award based on their performances this year. Rafael Nadal won two Grand Slams this year – the Australian Open and the French Open and made it to the semi-final of the US Open. Similarly, Iga Swiatek, the current WTA no.1 has absolutely dominated the women’s circuit. The Polish ace has also won two Grand Slams this year – the French Open and the US Open.
Besides Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, the current ATP World no.1 has also had a star year. Alcaraz recently won the US open which propelled him to the top of the ATP rankings ahead of Nadal, Ruud and Medvedev. In the WTA circuit, there are no obvious challengers to Iga Swiatek as things stand.
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