The 2024 Shot of the Year showdown hits the grass swing

Editor’s note: Over the next two weeks, wtatennis.com will be running the 2024 Shot of the Year Showdown — a bracket-style tournament in which you, the fans, can vote for your favorite points and ultimately the best of the season.

The group stages will run daily from Nov. 25 to Dec. 8, consisting of 14 groups of eight points each, organized from the 51 Hologic WTA Tour tournaments of 2024.

Each group winner, plus two “lucky losers” — the second-placed points with the highest vote shares when the polls close — will advance to two semifinals of eight points each on Dec. 10.

The top two points from each semifinal will advance to the grand final on Dec. 12.

We’ve selected 112 points from the past 12 months that brilliantly showcase the athleticism, power, touch and creativity in women’s tennis. Now it’s up to you to select the best of the best.

Group G comprises June’s WTA 500 and WTA 250 grass-court tournaments in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany.

Vote in Group A: Brisbane / Auckland / Adelaide / Hobart
Vote for Group B: Hua Hin 1 / Linz / Cluj-Napoca / Austin / San Diego
Vote in Group C: Abu Dhabi / Doha / Dubai
Vote in Group D: Indian Wells / Miami
Vote in Group E: Charleston / Bogota / Stuttgart / Rouen
Vote in Group F: Madrid / Rome

GROUP G: Nottingham / ‘s-Hertogenbosch / Berlin / Birmingham / Eastbourne / Bad Homburg

Tatjana Maria‘s victory over Emiliana Arango in the Nottingham first round is a hipster pick for the best match of 2024. This early exchange, ending with a volleyed lob by Maria, set the tone for the 3 hours and 24 minutes of slicing, dicing and net reflexes that followed.

Former ‘s-Hertogenbosch champion Aleksandra Krunic turned the clock back to upset Jessica Pegula in this year’s second round, her first Top 10 win in six years. It was full of stellar steals such as this point, in which Krunic finds a winning lob off a Pegula smash, seconds after doing the splits on the grass.

Bianca Andreescu showcased some unbelievable defense against Naomi Osaka in the ‘s-Hertogenbosch quarterfinals. It’s remarkable that the Canadian even got her racquet on either of Osaka’s last two shots, let alone that she found a bullet backhand winner down the line off the final one.

Both Yulia Putintseva and Elisabetta Cocciaretto were brick walls in this wonderfully entertaining rally in the Birmingham semifinals. It was going to take something special to get through either player’s defenses, and Putintseva found it with her sharp forehand angle.

Coco Gauff was sent scurrying up and down the court not once but twice as Ons Jabeur tried to weave her web in the Berlin quarterfinals. Testing Gauff’s athleticism rarely pays off, though, and the American had the last laugh by flashing a backhand pass past Jabeur.

Petra Martic spent most of this Eastbourne first-round exchange trying to blunt Katie Boulter’s flat power with slices and variety, but ultimately needed a remarkable angle on her forehand passing shot to get past the Briton.

“One of the best defensive lobs you are going to see all week,” declared the commentator of Diana Schneider‘s lunge in the Bad Homburg quarterfinals that took her completely off screen. But the eventual champion nailed the shot against a disbelieving Paula Badosa, then crunched a forehand winner to back it up.

Donna Vekic was run ragged by Viktoriya Tomova in the Bad Homburg semifinals, but the Croatian showed immense grit not just to stay in the point but then to track down the Bulgarian’s drop shot and hammer a forehand winner on the line.