The 10 Biggest On-Court Stories of 2018

The description "tennis mom" usually refers to parents, not players, but that could be changing as more female pros return to tour with children in tow. Mothers factored prominently on the WTA this season, with Serena Williams returning from the birth of her first child, Victoria Azarenka resuming a full schedule with her son, and other new mothers like Mandy Minella and Olga Govortsova also coming back.

They are adding to a growing group of WTA players with children, which also includes Tatjana Maria, Kateryna Bondarenko, Evgeniya Rodina, the recently retired Patty Schnyder and Vera Zvonareva.

In the lower ranks, Gail Brodsky set herself apart by returning to competitive play as a mother of two, which is rarer still.

"There’s so many girls now like Serena and Vika, but also Mandy Minella, who’s my really good friend," Govortsova told the WTA. "It’s inspiring, I think it’s going to be more and more girls like this."

That seems likely, with more WTA players recently announcing their pregnancy. Elena Vesnina, who just gave birth a few weeks ago, and fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva could both return to tour next season.

Success is likely to spur them on. Williams appeared in a pair of Grand Slam finals despite complications following childbirth, Azarenka reached the Miami semifinals, Maria won her first WTA title this season and Minella is on the verge of getting back into the Top 100.

The WTA is still a revolving door, with new Grand Slam champions and No. 1s arriving too frequently to take hold in the public consciousness.

But this season, there was an exception—Naomi Osaka's victory at the US Open. The final might have grabbed attention for all the wrong reasons, but in doing so, it got Osaka the kind of instant superstardom no player has experienced in years.

As the crowd booed the penalties given to Serena Williams, Osaka's tearful and touching (if unnecessary) apology won over fans. Even before that, it was hard not to be struck by the 20-year-old's high-quality play and collected performance, especially in the chaos that had surrounded the encounter.

She had already captivated tennis watchers with her unaffected manner and hilarious trophy speech at Indian Wells, and would do the same with a wider viewership in talk shows and interviews following her Grand Slam win. In Japan, she is now one of the country's most famous sports figures, and with sponsorship offers pouring in, is also set to rival Williams in off-court earnings.

Osaka is at the forefront of a group of promising youngsters that also includes 20-year-olds Aryna Sabalenka and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.

And while teenage phenoms are not what they used to be on the women's tour, a few more did announce themselves this season: 19-year-old Sofia Kenin, 19-year-old Marketa Vondrousova and 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova all finished inside the Top 100.

More and more ATP players have been reaching career-highs in their 30s, but this season that began to extend to Top 10 players. Seven of the tour's year-end Top 10 are in their 30s, and four achieved career-high rankings this season.

The most prominent might have been 32-year-old Kevin Anderson, who got to No. 5 by defeating Federer and John Isner in marathon five-setters to reach the Wimbledon final. Isner, who went down 26-24 to Anderson, was playing his first Grand Slam semifinal at 33 years old, and also won his first Masters title at Miami this season, getting to No. 8 in the rankings. Both also qualified for the ATP Finals for the first time.

A pair of 30-year-old former Grand Slam champions, Juan Martin del Potro and MarinCilic, both got back to major finals and reached a career-high No. 3 in the rankings this season. Del Potro also won his first Masters title at Indian Wells, while Cilic led Croatia to the Davis Cup title. They are both contending more regularly for big events than they did when they pulled off their surprise major wins.

As both hit their 30s a couple of months ago, there were now no Grand Slam champions under the age of 30 on the men's tour.

For all the talk of younger players, it might be the veterans who are better positioned for breakthroughs.

Forget titles and trophies and rankings. This season's most improbable feat was performed not in championship finals or on big courts, but in qualifying—and not even successfully.

Peter Polansky went down in the final round of Grand Slam qualifying not once, not twice, but four times—and each time, he got into the main draw anyway, because of withdrawals.

The ''LL" Slam, as it was dubbed, had never been done before. While made slightly easier by new rules that encourage unfit players to withdraw before play begins, the accomplishment was even more unlikely because the spots are filled by picking names from a hat, which meant that Polansky's had to be among the selections every time.

No wonder Polansky found players coming up in the locker room, rubbing him for luck.

But there was an even more sensational second-chance entry into a Slam this season. It belonged to Marco Trungelliti, who traveled back to Barcelona following his qualifying defeat at the French Open, and then got a call from his coach telling him he was next in if someone withdrew. Learning that a spot had opened up, Trungelliti bundled his visiting family into the car and they drove more than 10 hours back to Paris before he won his first-round match, on just a few hours of sleep.

Players who actually qualified did even better. A record eight titles were won by qualifiers on the ATP tour, including MirzaBasic at Sofia and Roberto Carballes Baena at Quito. Russia's Daniil Medvedev did it twice, at Sydney and at the ATP 500 at Tokyo, while the Hamburg ATP 500 also went to a qualifier, Nikoloz Basilashvili.

In Kitzbuhel, qualifier Martin Klizan defeated another qualifier, Denis Istomin, to win the title. And two qualifiers won titles in the same week when Bernard Tomic took the title at Chengdu, and Yoshihito Nishioka triumphed at the Shenzhen Open.

The story this season was often as much about who wasn't on the court as who was. It began with Serena Williams delaying her comeback with childbirth complications, and Andy Murray having hip surgery instead of playing the Australian Open.

During Melbourne, it became obvious that Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka were also not recovered from their injuries, and by the time the tournament finished, Nadal would also be sidelined with injury until the clay season. Djokovic would have surgery in the next few weeks, while Wawrinka limped along a little longer before taking more time off.

Even Federer, having not played the clay season, injured his hand on the grass and played with discomfort for the next few months. Maria Sharapova hurt her arm at Indian Wells, and played intermittently for the rest of the season. Nadal pulled up hurting at a hardcourt Slam again, and then had ankle surgery. Del Potro finished with a fractured kneecap, and Halep with a back injury.

Milos Raonic barely completed a tournament healthy, while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had knee surgery and spent portions of the season sidelined—just like fellow Frenchmen Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet. Tomas Berdych's back prevented him from playing half the season.

Kyrgios counted hip and elbow problems among his issues, while his friend Thanasi Kokkinakis got back from one injury before tripping on court and suffering another. David Goffin got hit in the eye with a ball, and finished the season with more physical problems.

But there were also some successful comebacks from injury: Djokovic rebounded to No. 1; Kei Nishikori returned to the top ten following wrist problems; and Nishioka was back from an ACL tear. Pablo Andujar, ranked No. 1,690 and returning from three elbow surgeries, finished in the Top 100.

Mike Bryan became the doubles No. 1 again at 40 years old, but just as noteworthy was who he did it with. Having started the season by winning two titles alongside regular partner, and brother, Bob Bryan, Mike played the second half with Jack Sock when Bob was sidelined with hip injury.

The Bryan-Sock pairing won titles at Wimbledon, the US Open and the ATP Finals, a run of big titles that was particularly unusual in the unpredictable field that is men's doubles. It prompted quips about the 'Bryan triplets' and highlights Sock's doubles ability even as his singles career cratered. Having started the season No. 8 in singles, he is now No. 107—but No. 2 in doubles.

The French Open title went to Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicholas Mahut, a regular doubles pairing that also features in singles. Herbert ranks No. 55 in singles, while Mahut has been in the Top 40 during his career.

Singles and doubles success is more frequent on the women's tour, where most of the doubles Top 10 plays singles regularly. Former Top 20 singles player Vesnina and former Top 10 doubles player Ekaterina Makarova got to No. 1 in doubles for the first time this season. Former Top 10 singles player Kristina Mladenovic is No. 3 in doubles. And singles No. 15 Ashleigh Barty, alongside former Top 10 singles player Coco Vandeweghe, won the doubles at the US Open.

Specialization has become the norm, but some players are still capable of doubling up.

In 2019, the ATP, WTA—and so much more—are on Tennis Channel Plus:

HIGHLIGHTS: Novak Djokovic d. Rafael Nadal in Wimbledon semifinals

With our Top 10 Matches of 2018 countdown complete, it's time to move on to the biggest stories of the past year, on and off the court. Today, we run down the most significant on-court happenings.

"I don't know if I'm going to play on grass," Novak Djokovic said as he strode insistently into the small interview room following his quarterfinal defeat at the French Open.

Having dropped to No. 22 in the rankings and just losing in five sets to the little-known Marco Cecchinato, the Serb was unsure about a lot of things: his surgically repaired elbow, his sagging fitness, the team he had assembled and reassembled twice within a year, and whether he could recapture the game that had taken him to the historic heights of 2016.

But he also didn't know that he would indeed play on grass—and what's more, start a winning run that would include titles at Wimbledon, Cincinnati, the US Open and Shanghai, along with a return to the No. 1 ranking. He didn't know that he would spend the second week of the French Open climbing mountains with his wife and reflect that he had come back down with renewed fire for his career. He didn't know his turnaround had already begun a few weeks prior, when he reached the semifinals at Rome, just three months since he had had surgery on the elbow which had kept him off the courts during the second half of 2017 and began affecting him again at the Australian Open. Going into Rome, he was 6-5 for the season. Since then, he went 47-5, with four titles and three finals in eight events.

Still, even in Paris, Djokovic did know something: his capability as a tennis player.

"Five months ago, it was highly improbable considering my ranking and the way I played and felt on the court," he said upon returning to No. 1. "But I always believe in myself."

As so often in his career, Djokovic was following Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in producing a career-elevating comeback, and again getting some limelight of his own.

While Novak Djokovic dominated the second half of the season, the first half belonged to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Having won the Australian Open to get a record 20th Grand Slam title, Federer decided to swing by Rotterdam and reclaim the No. 1 ranking, which he secured by reaching the semifinals of the event.

Even though he had spent a record 302 weeks in the top spot, the achievement was as special as ever for the then-36-year-old from Switzerland. He became the oldest player to ever hold the No. 1 ranking, returning there more than five years since he had previously held it in 2012 and 14 years since first reaching the top in 2004—also both records. It capped a remarkable comeback that began in 2017 from knee surgery, and was still a highlight as he finished the season.

"For me, that was a huge moment," Federer said. "I never thought I would get there again."

Nadal picked up where Federer left off, winning a record 11th Monte Carlo title, a record 11th Barcelona title and, even more strikingly, a record 11th French Open. It is the most championships won by any player at a single event alongside Margaret Court's 11 Australian Opens, which came at a time when most top players did not regularly play Down Under.

It was yet another year of the Spaniard's unprecedented dominance of not just the French Open but the whole European clay-court season, giving him 17 Grand Slam titles and a record 33 Masters titles during his career.

In the first major final of the season, it was as hard to know who to root for as it was to know who would win.

On one side, there was Caroline Wozniacki, who had been ranked No. 1 for 67 weeks between 2010 and 2012, and ever since had been answering questions about why she hadn't won a Grand Slam title. The 27-year-old from Denmark had played 42 Slams, reaching two finals and holding match point in another semifinal, but still hadn't captured a championship. She'd maintained her title as one of the game's top competitors, though. In the second round, she came from 5-1 down and match point down in the third set to win, and then reached her third Grand Slam final.

On the other side, there was Simona Halep, who had also reached two Grand Slam finals and the No. 1 ranking but had yet to win a major, blowing a set-and-a-break lead in the final of the 2017 French Open. At the Australian Open, she had become the sensation of the tournament by winning a 28-game third set in the fourth round against Lauren Davis, then outlasting Angelique Kerber, 9-7 in the third set, in the semifinals. That was on top of having twisted her ankle before the tournament, and playing in a logo-less dress because she had no clothing sponsor.

Wozniacki would win in three tough sets against an exhausted Halep, removing all questions about whether she could "justify" her No. 1 ranking with a Grand Slam title.

"Honestly, I think that's one of the most positive things about all of this," she said. "I'm never going to get that question again."

It was Halep who would now get such questions all the more frequently. But that just made her eventual French Open victory all the more satisfying, especially when the Romanian reversed her previous experience, coming from a set and a break down against Sloane Stephens to get the win.

A year before in that same position, Halep had questioned her ability to become a Grand Slam champion. Now more experienced, she did not.

"I said there is a chance to come back and win it. I believed in that, and my game was more relaxed," Halep said.

And let's not forget Kerber, the semifinal victim of those Australian Open heroics, who also found redemption by perseverance. Coming back from a poor 2017, the German's fine play did not get her a single title this season until Wimbledon—where she bounced back to collect the third Grand Slam title of her career.

They weren't even teenagers when Djokovic, Nadal and Federer first led the rankings together, and the ATP's Next Gen are now on tour with the same trio still at the top of the game.

But there were a few indications of the younger generation breaking through this season, especially in its second half. Each of Djokovic's three most recent defeats came against players aged 22 and under: 21-year-old Alexander Zverev at the ATP Tour Finals; 22-year-old Karen Khachanov at the Paris Masters; and 19-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

That group also featured prominently in at ATP Masters 1000 tournaments throughout the year. Zverev, champion of the Rome Masters and runner-up at the Madrid Masters and Miami Open, won the season-ending ATP Finals; Khachanov won Paris; 22-year-old BornaCoric reached the final of the Shanghai Masters; and Tsitsipas reached the final of Toronto.

So far, the young group has been less successful at the Grand Slams, but 22-year-old Hyeon Chung did begin the season by reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open. Slightly older but still young by today's ATP standards, 25-year-old Dominic Thiem also got to the French Open final and went a grueling five sets against Nadal at the US Open.

The season finished with two teenagers in the Top 40.DenisShapovalov followed his 2017 breakthrough by reaching a career-high No. 23 (before dropping back to No. 27), while Alex de Minaur shot up more than 150 spots to finish at No. 31.

The question, as in previous years, is whether their climb is the produce of real improvement, or because other top players have been off the tour. Yet it should be noted the young guns scored their share of wins against the game's top names. They possess a level of power hitting, along with surprisingly deft movement, which can be intimidating even to the Big Three on a good day, though their good days are still a little infrequent.

Like their game styles, their personalities are also a little more combative than their older peers. When a beaten Zverev called his performance against Tsitsipas "pathetic on all levels" at the Rogers Cup, the young Greek replied, "A good player is seen on his bad day."

In response to jibes from Kyrgios about the elaborate YouTube videos he creates, Tsitsipas said it was better than playing video games all day—like Kyrgios is sometimes known to do.

Finding friendships to go along with the willingness to trade barbs, this emerging generation keeps it interesting.

The description "tennis mom" usually refers to parents, not players, but that could be changing as more female pros return to tour with children in tow. Mothers factored prominently on the WTA this season, with Serena Williams returning from the birth of her first child, Victoria Azarenka resuming a full schedule with her son, and other new mothers like Mandy Minella and Olga Govortsova also coming back.

They are adding to a growing group of WTA players with children, which also includes Tatjana Maria, Kateryna Bondarenko, Evgeniya Rodina, the recently retired Patty Schnyder and Vera Zvonareva.

In the lower ranks, Gail Brodsky set herself apart by returning to competitive play as a mother of two, which is rarer still.

"There’s so many girls now like Serena and Vika, but also Mandy Minella, who’s my really good friend," Govortsova told the WTA. "It’s inspiring, I think it’s going to be more and more girls like this."

That seems likely, with more WTA players recently announcing their pregnancy. Elena Vesnina, who just gave birth a few weeks ago, and fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva could both return to tour next season.

Success is likely to spur them on. Williams appeared in a pair of Grand Slam finals despite complications following childbirth, Azarenka reached the Miami semifinals, Maria won her first WTA title this season and Minella is on the verge of getting back into the Top 100.

The WTA is still a revolving door, with new Grand Slam champions and No. 1s arriving too frequently to take hold in the public consciousness.

But this season, there was an exception—Naomi Osaka's victory at the US Open. The final might have grabbed attention for all the wrong reasons, but in doing so, it got Osaka the kind of instant superstardom no player has experienced in years.

As the crowd booed the penalties given to Serena Williams, Osaka's tearful and touching (if unnecessary) apology won over fans. Even before that, it was hard not to be struck by the 20-year-old's high-quality play and collected performance, especially in the chaos that had surrounded the encounter.

She had already captivated tennis watchers with her unaffected manner and hilarious trophy speech at Indian Wells, and would do the same with a wider viewership in talk shows and interviews following her Grand Slam win. In Japan, she is now one of the country's most famous sports figures, and with sponsorship offers pouring in, is also set to rival Williams in off-court earnings.

Osaka is at the forefront of a group of promising youngsters that also includes 20-year-olds Aryna Sabalenka and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.

And while teenage phenoms are not what they used to be on the women's tour, a few more did announce themselves this season: 19-year-old Sofia Kenin, 19-year-old Marketa Vondrousova and 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova all finished inside the Top 100.

More and more ATP players have been reaching career-highs in their 30s, but this season that began to extend to Top 10 players. Seven of the tour's year-end Top 10 are in their 30s, and four achieved career-high rankings this season.

The most prominent might have been 32-year-old Kevin Anderson, who got to No. 5 by defeating Federer and John Isner in marathon five-setters to reach the Wimbledon final. Isner, who went down 26-24 to Anderson, was playing his first Grand Slam semifinal at 33 years old, and also won his first Masters title at Miami this season, getting to No. 8 in the rankings. Both also qualified for the ATP Finals for the first time.

A pair of 30-year-old former Grand Slam champions, Juan Martin del Potro and MarinCilic, both got back to major finals and reached a career-high No. 3 in the rankings this season. Del Potro also won his first Masters title at Indian Wells, while Cilic led Croatia to the Davis Cup title. They are both contending more regularly for big events than they did when they pulled off their surprise major wins.

As both hit their 30s a couple of months ago, there were now no Grand Slam champions under the age of 30 on the men's tour.

For all the talk of younger players, it might be the veterans who are better positioned for breakthroughs.

Forget titles and trophies and rankings. This season's most improbable feat was performed not in championship finals or on big courts, but in qualifying—and not even successfully.

Peter Polansky went down in the final round of Grand Slam qualifying not once, not twice, but four times—and each time, he got into the main draw anyway, because of withdrawals.

The ''LL" Slam, as it was dubbed, had never been done before. While made slightly easier by new rules that encourage unfit players to withdraw before play begins, the accomplishment was even more unlikely because the spots are filled by picking names from a hat, which meant that Polansky's had to be among the selections every time.

No wonder Polansky found players coming up in the locker room, rubbing him for luck.

But there was an even more sensational second-chance entry into a Slam this season. It belonged to Marco Trungelliti, who traveled back to Barcelona following his qualifying defeat at the French Open, and then got a call from his coach telling him he was next in if someone withdrew. Learning that a spot had opened up, Trungelliti bundled his visiting family into the car and they drove more than 10 hours back to Paris before he won his first-round match, on just a few hours of sleep.

Players who actually qualified did even better. A record eight titles were won by qualifiers on the ATP tour, including MirzaBasic at Sofia and Roberto Carballes Baena at Quito. Russia's Daniil Medvedev did it twice, at Sydney and at the ATP 500 at Tokyo, while the Hamburg ATP 500 also went to a qualifier, Nikoloz Basilashvili.

In Kitzbuhel, qualifier Martin Klizan defeated another qualifier, Denis Istomin, to win the title. And two qualifiers won titles in the same week when Bernard Tomic took the title at Chengdu, and Yoshihito Nishioka triumphed at the Shenzhen Open.

The story this season was often as much about who wasn't on the court as who was. It began with Serena Williams delaying her comeback with childbirth complications, and Andy Murray having hip surgery instead of playing the Australian Open.

During Melbourne, it became obvious that Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka were also not recovered from their injuries, and by the time the tournament finished, Nadal would also be sidelined with injury until the clay season. Djokovic would have surgery in the next few weeks, while Wawrinka limped along a little longer before taking more time off.

Even Federer, having not played the clay season, injured his hand on the grass and played with discomfort for the next few months. Maria Sharapova hurt her arm at Indian Wells, and played intermittently for the rest of the season. Nadal pulled up hurting at a hardcourt Slam again, and then had ankle surgery. Del Potro finished with a fractured kneecap, and Halep with a back injury.

Milos Raonic barely completed a tournament healthy, while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had knee surgery and spent portions of the season sidelined—just like fellow Frenchmen Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet. Tomas Berdych's back prevented him from playing half the season.

Kyrgios counted hip and elbow problems among his issues, while his friend Thanasi Kokkinakis got back from one injury before tripping on court and suffering another. David Goffin got hit in the eye with a ball, and finished the season with more physical problems.

But there were also some successful comebacks from injury: Djokovic rebounded to No. 1; Kei Nishikori returned to the top ten following wrist problems; and Nishioka was back from an ACL tear. Pablo Andujar, ranked No. 1,690 and returning from three elbow surgeries, finished in the Top 100.

Mike Bryan became the doubles No. 1 again at 40 years old, but just as noteworthy was who he did it with. Having started the season by winning two titles alongside regular partner, and brother, Bob Bryan, Mike played the second half with Jack Sock when Bob was sidelined with hip injury.

The Bryan-Sock pairing won titles at Wimbledon, the US Open and the ATP Finals, a run of big titles that was particularly unusual in the unpredictable field that is men's doubles. It prompted quips about the 'Bryan triplets' and highlights Sock's doubles ability even as his singles career cratered. Having started the season No. 8 in singles, he is now No. 107—but No. 2 in doubles.

The French Open title went to Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicholas Mahut, a regular doubles pairing that also features in singles. Herbert ranks No. 55 in singles, while Mahut has been in the Top 40 during his career.

Singles and doubles success is more frequent on the women's tour, where most of the doubles Top 10 plays singles regularly. Former Top 20 singles player Vesnina and former Top 10 doubles player Ekaterina Makarova got to No. 1 in doubles for the first time this season. Former Top 10 singles player Kristina Mladenovic is No. 3 in doubles. And singles No. 15 Ashleigh Barty, alongside former Top 10 singles player Coco Vandeweghe, won the doubles at the US Open.

Specialization has become the norm, but some players are still capable of doubling up.

In 2019, the ATP, WTA—and so much more—are on Tennis Channel Plus: