TSTB year end awards

Welcome to the TopSpinTennisBlog year end awards. We'll begin with player of the year. Over to a well known former champion who has kindly agreed to present the first prize. Boris, the floor is all

"The nominees for TopSpinTennisBlog player of the year are Andy Murray, Jelena Jankovic, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams."

Run VT: a burst of video clips showing Murray hitting the running backhand against Gasquet at Wimbledon, and Andy downing Federer in Shanghai; Nadal falling to the ground in his trademark celebaration in Paris and then Wimbledon; Serena playing Venus; and then Jelena playing Ana, and then Serena at the US.

Drum roll. Pause as Boris teases us and then reveals what we all knew.

"And the winner is, the world No 1 Rafael Nadal"

A no brainer really. Any man who can end Roger's dominance on grass, push him off the top spot, and win Olympic gold is a worthy winner. That said - and this is controversial - one of the judges couldn't help but point out that Rafa had a phenomenal 4 months rather than a great year.

The first few months of the season he was below par and nearly lost his no 2 ranking to Nole, and post Beijing he dropped away again.

OK that maybe a little churlish - there's some truth in it - but Rafa is a deserving winner.

Tomorrow, we'll reveal the winner of the David Ferrer over-achiever prize.

Back where she belongs

So good to see Serena win and return to No 1. The best player in the world is back where she belongs. Didn't see the match, had to head to bed after Murray v Nadal, but it sounds like a cracker.

Here's her reaction from the BBC

"I'm so excited," she said. "This was magical. It was everything coming together like magic. I wasn't even going for number one and it's just like an added bonus. It is that special because I've been working so hard."

Williams has now won one French Open, two Wimbledon, three Australian Open and three US Open titles, adding to her victories of 1999 and 2002 in New York. Asked to compare this US Open to the other two, Williams said they are all special in their own way.

"Each one means a lot," she said. "The 1999 one was special because I knew I was going to win it. I just felt it. I wanted it so bad in 1999. It was my first Grand Slam so no one can take that away. I won doubles that year too."

Great moments in tennis history No 6 - the Serena Slam starts here

Paris, 2002, Serena Williams beating her older sister Venus in the French Open final. Seems hard to imagine now but at the time there was a lot of concern about the Williams Sisters (and their Dad) being bad for tennis.

Messed up thinking if you ask me. I never quite understood how people could think that two charismatic, talented, athletes – who have subsequently turned so many new people onto tennis – could ever be anything but fantastic for the sport.

OK the match itself was no classic with both Sisters making too many unforced errors, but it was the start of something special - the Serena Slam.

She then went onto win the other 3 Grand Slam events in the following 7 months, so that come January 2003 she held all 4 Slam titles.

The best moment in Paris came at the end of the match when Venus dashed off court only to re-emerge from the locker room – to the surprise and delight of the crowd - with her camera.

Venus then elbowed the press photographers out of the way to take pictures of her sister lifting the trophy. A great illustration of how close ‘Team Williams’ are. You can watch this super moment below (hope your French is better than mine) and you can read the Guardian’s write up here