The 2024 Shot of the Year Showdown reaches the fall 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 J comprises the autumn’s WTA 500 and WTA 250 tournaments in Mexico and Tunisia.

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
Vote in Group G: Nottingham / ‘s-Hertogenbosch / Berlin / Birmingham / Eastbourne / Bad Homburg
Vote in Group H: Rabat / Strasbourg / Palermo / Budapest / Iasi / Prague
Vote in Group I: Washington D.C. / Toronto / Cincinnati / Monterrey / Cleveland

GROUP J: Monastir / Guadalajara / Merida

From line to line and beyond! Playing the first WTA match of her career in the first round of Monastir, Antonia Ruzic chased down a Nadia Podoroska volley from the opposite side of the court and, from outside the tramline, fired a brilliant backhand winner on the run.

Camila Osorio was at her indomitable best in the Guadalajara second round as she overturned a 5-0 third-set deficit against Veronika Kudermetova. The Colombian’s drop shot winner here is an exquisite piece of artistry that she pulls seemingly from out of nowhere.

An extraordinary winner from Renata Zarazu in the Guadalajara second round. Having retrieved Martina Trevisan’s heaviest blows, the Mexican managed to track down a drop shot — then respond, with Trevisan right there at the net, with a counter-drop laden with so much spin that Trevisan could only flail with her racquet as the ball ricocheted away.

The forehand squash shot at full stretch is impressive enough when players flick it cross-court, the more natural trajectory for last-resort defense. Ena Shibahara took it to another level in the Guadalajara second round against Caroline Garcia by a full-stretch stab down the line, over the highest part of the net.

Jelena Ostapenko doesn’t tend to win points from the back foot, mostly because she doesn’t tend to let herself be pushed on to the back foot to begin with. But needs must, and against Marina Stakusic in the Guadalajara second round the Latvian came up with this perfect one-handed backhand lob.

Rebecca Sramkova hit not one, not two, but three tweeners en route to the Monastir final. This one, against Sara Sorribes Tormo in the quarterfinals, was the only one that was a clean winner — and an extraordinary one at that as she finds an absurd angle to deny the Spaniard.

Magdalena Frech‘s speed was out of this world as she chased down a full-blast Marina Stakusic forehand in the Guadalajara quarterfinals, and nailed her own forehand pass on the run.

Another hot dog, this time from Maja Chwalinska in the second round of Merida against Renata Zarazua. The Pole is renowned for her finesse, and it came through in an important moment here — to seal set point with a perfectly weighted tweener lob.