Barty Named WTA Player of the Year, Raducanu Wins Newcomer Award

Ashleigh Barty. (Reuters)
Ashleigh Barty. (Reuters)
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Barty Named WTA Player of the Year, Raducanu Wins Newcomer Award

Ashleigh Barty. (Reuters)
Ashleigh Barty. (Reuters)

World number one Ash Barty was named WTA Player of the Year for the second time and US Open champion Emma Raducanu took the Newcomer of the Year title, the governing body of the women's game said on Tuesday.

Australian Barty, who won the title in 2019, won a tour-leading five titles this year including the second Grand Slam trophy of her career at Wimbledon where she beat Czech Karolina Pliskova in the final.

She also defended her title at Miami and triumphed in Melbourne, Stuttgart and Cincinnati to secure her third year-end number one ranking in a row.

Raducanu, 19, entered the US Open as a qualifier ranked 150th in the world and ended it as Britain's first female Grand Slam champion for 44 years.

Czech Barbora Krejcikova took the WTA prize for the Most Improved Player of the Year following a stellar season in which she won the French Open singles crown.

She also excelled in doubles with playing partner Katerina Siniakova, with the pair earning the Doubles Team of the Year award which they also won in 2018.

Carla Suarez Navarro was named the Comeback Player of the Year award.

The 33-year-old announced in September, 2020 that she was being treated for early stage Hodgkin lymphoma and underwent months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy before returning at the French Open in June.



Brazil Coach Ancelotti Sentenced to One-year Jail Term in Spain over Tax Fraud

(FILES) Brazil's football team new head coach, Italian Carlo Ancelotti, walks on arrival for his official presentation at a hotel in Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 26, 2025. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)
(FILES) Brazil's football team new head coach, Italian Carlo Ancelotti, walks on arrival for his official presentation at a hotel in Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 26, 2025. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)
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Brazil Coach Ancelotti Sentenced to One-year Jail Term in Spain over Tax Fraud

(FILES) Brazil's football team new head coach, Italian Carlo Ancelotti, walks on arrival for his official presentation at a hotel in Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 26, 2025. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)
(FILES) Brazil's football team new head coach, Italian Carlo Ancelotti, walks on arrival for his official presentation at a hotel in Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 26, 2025. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)

A Spanish court on Wednesday sentenced Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti to a one-year prison term for tax fraud when he was Real Madrid manager in 2014.

The Madrid court also fined Ancelotti €386,000 ($452,187).

Spanish prosecutors accused Ancelotti of defrauding the state of 1 million euros ($1 million) in 2014 and 2015. State prosecutors sought a prison sentence of up to four years and nine months on two counts of tax fraud.

In March 2024, they accused Ancelotti of having used shell companies to hide his true earnings. Prosecutors claimed Ancelotti, for example, used one company that lacked “any real (economic) activity” in the Virgin Islands as part of an alleged scheme.

Carlos Sánchez, Ancelotti’s press officer, told The Associated Press that the coach “will not make comments for now.”

Ancelotti is one of soccer’s most successful coaches. He is the only coach to have won the Champions League five times, three with Madrid and twice with AC Milan, and the only coach to have won domestic league titles in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France.