London – Serena Williams has earned WTA Player of the Year honours for the fifth time in her career, after ending 2013 with victories in 78 of 82 matches and winning 11 titles.
The 32-year-old world number one completed arguably the best season of her career with US and French Open titles, nine other trophies and a record 12,385,572 dollars in prize money.
“I have some areas where I can do a lot better for next year and I look forward to it. Overall I'll remember the wins, but I also want to learn from my mistakes so I don't repeat them,” said the oldest number one in WTA history.
The American also won the top player award in 2002, 2008, 2009
and 2012 as determined by a global media poll.
Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci claimed Doubles Team of the Year for a second consecutive season after winning the Australian Open plus trophies in Doha and Paris Indoors. They were finalists at Roland Garros, Sydney and Rome and led Italy to the Fed Cup title for the first time since 2010.
Romanian Simona Halep was voted Most Improved Player of the Year thanks to six titles, placing her second in that category behind Williams. Canadian teenager Eugenie Bouchard won the Newcomer of the Year after finishing 32nd from a number 144 start last January. She won her first WTA final at Osaka.
Russian Alisa Kleybanova took the Comeback Player of the Year award after returning to tennis following a battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma, winning a trophy at her first event back, an ITF tournament in the US. – Sapa-dpa