The golden canary landed in the hands of Katerina Siniakova

On Monday evening, the results of the Golden Canary survey were announced at the tennis hall in Přerov. The main category was dominated by Kateřina Siniaková, who also won the joint award with her doubles teammate Barbora Krejčíková. Jiří Lehečka won the men’s category.

The gala evening was hosted by Petr Vichnar. There was also an accompanying programme, including performances by the music group Slza and singers Helena Vondráčková and Andrea Zimányiová. The event was broadcast live on Czech Television.

The poll, organized by Tennis magazine in cooperation with the Czech Tennis Federation, is annually voted by domestic white sport experts, coaches, officials, journalists and representatives of sponsors. This year was the 30th anniversary year of this selection of the best domestic tennis players.

The Queen of the Golden Canary 2022 was Katerina Siniakova, currently the 49th player in the world. In September, she managed to conquer the WTA 250 level tournament in Portorož, Slovenia. It was her first singles triumph on the most prestigious circuit in five years.

She has been even more successful in doubles, teaming up with last year’s winner of the prestigious prize, Barbora Krejcikova. Thanks to their joint triumphs at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open and their final appearance at the Champions Tournament, they went on to win the doubles pairs category.

World No. 16 Petra Kvitová was named Tennis Player of the Year. The two-time Wimbledon champion added another grass-court trophy to her collection in the season just ending, namely the one at Eastbourne.

The top man is Jiri Lehecka, the twenty-one-year-old player number 81 on the ATP rankings. He also earned the award for his move up the singles rankings, as he even managed to move up to 59th from his original 141st position. In November, he advanced all the way to the title match at an event called the Next Gen ATP Finals, which is similar to the Tournament of Champions for young tennis players.

The award for progress in the women’s singles world rankings went to Marie Bouzkova. In her case, it was a jump from 90th to 24th place. She played in the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam at the All England Club in London and also celebrated her first victory at the home Livesport Prague Open.

Gradually, the names of the rulers of the other categories were also released. The talents of the season are Maxim Mrva and Laura Samsonova, the senior of the year Barbora Koutná, the best wheelchair tennis player Tomas Svasek.

Among the teams, the world under-14 champions Eliška Forejtková, Alena Kovačková and the aforementioned Samsonová, whose non-playing captain was Petra Cetkovská, rejoiced. Jana Strnisková and Daniel Vacek, the coaches of the youth, received the President’s Award.

Under the auspices of the head of the Czech Tennis Federation Ivo Kaderka, one more special award was presented. The Quarter Centenary Award of the President of the CTS belongs to the renowned physiotherapist Professor Pavel Kolář.

“We wanted it to be awarded to a personality whose activities go beyond the boundaries of tennis. This has also been achieved,” František Kreuz, editor-in-chief of Tenis magazine, explained to the Tenisový svět website the creation of this new part of the Golden Canary poll.

Source: Zlatý kanár, Tenisový svět, WTA, ATP