Roundtable: Defining moments and underrated stars of the Grand Slam season

Let’s get right to it.

The 2024 Grand Slam season has officially come to a close, and what a ride it’s been. From jaw-dropping upsets to highlight-reel moments that we’ll be replaying in our heads for a while, there was no shortage of excitement.

But which moments stole the show? We couldn’t help ourselves and dove into a few burning questions to unpack all the drama, surprises and standout performances that made this season unforgettable.

Since it was an Olympic year, who would you award your gold, silver and bronze medals to for their performances during the Slam season?

Jason Juzwiak: Aryna Sabalenka gets the gold, no question. You cannot ignore a multi-Slam season. Iga Swiatek grabs the silver. And while I will always support Barbora Krejcikova any time she steps up and takes a title, I'll give the bronze to Jasmine Paolini, for reaching not just one, but two finals. I don't think many of us saw that coming.

Greg Garber: It’s hard to argue with 18-1 in the three non-grass Slams. Sabalenka missed Wimbledon with an injury, won two of the other three and reached the quarterfinals in Paris. It was a Player of the Year-type performance. Give me Paolini for the surprise silver. Getting to the finals of the French and Wimbledon requires a unique skill set. Swiatek was disappointed with her Olympic bronze, but she’s won four of five French Opens and makes this podium, too.

Courtney Nguyen: Sabalenka, Swiatek and Paolini. It’s wild that only two women this century -- Sabalenka and Angelique Kerber -- have been able to sweep the Australian Open and US Open in a single season. In addition to snagging her fifth major, Swiatek was one half of the best match of the Grand Slam season (her match-point saving effort against Naomi Osaka). As for Paolini, a reminder that the 28-year-old Italian was 4-16 at the Slams before this year. She went 18-4. 

Alex Macpherson: Gold goes to Sabalenka, whose bravura performance at the US Open sealed her first two-Slam season following her successful defense of the Australian Open crown in January. Silver goes to Swiatek, whose iron grip of the Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen doesn't seem likely to be loosened anytime soon. Her fifth major title puts her level with the likes of Martina Hingis and Maria Sharapova. And the bronze goes to Paolini, one of the most enjoyable and unlikely breakthroughs of the year. The Italian was one of only two players to reach the second week of every major (alongside Coco Gauff) and won over crowds at Roland Garros and Wimbledon with her big smile and fizzing forehand.

What was the most unforgettable Grand Slam match of the year for you?

Courtney Nguyen: It’s a beautiful thing when champions remind you who they are. Even better when two do it in a single match. No one gave Osaka a chance of taking a set off Swiatek in the second round of Roland Garros, but one consistent throughline in Osaka’s career has been her ability to channel her best tennis against the players she respects the most. Swiatek drew that level out of Osaka and then elevated herself to save match point and win.

Alex Macpherson: Nine months on, I'm not sure I've fully recovered from the 31-minute, 42-point super-tiebreak -- the longest in the history of the sport -- played by Anna Blinkova and Elena Rybakina in the second round of the Australian Open. Blinkova won the best point in it -- a desperate, scrambling feat of stubborn defense trailing 18-17, one of her six match points saved. Appropriately, she was also the victor in the end, sealing her second Top 5 win 4-6, 6-4, 7-6[20].

Jason Juzwiak: Swiatek's second-round meeting with Osaka at Roland Garros was already a showdown to watch, but I don't think anyone expected the hard-court expert Osaka to push Swiatek as much as she did. Swiatek had to scrap through some emotionally challenging moments to survive, including staring down match points. It was an intense affair, but it made Swiatek steelier and tightened her focus for the remainder of the event.

Greg Garber: At the risk of plagiarism, I have to agree with Jason and Courtney here. I was there and my notes are littered with exclamation points and underlines. Osaka, playing on a surface she doesn’t love, pushed Swiatek to her absolute limit at Roland Garros. Even in losing, that was the moment when I thought Osaka will be ready to win more Slams in 2025. 

Who flew under the radar but had a quietly impressive Grand Slam season?

Alex Macpherson: Which player has won the greatest proportion of her matches in 2024 at Grand Slams (of those who competed in all four)? Not Sabalenka, not Paolini, but No.146-ranked Yuliia Starodubtseva. The Ukrainian successfully qualified at every major this year and won her first main-draw match, at Wimbledon. That's 13 Grand Slam wins out of her 29 overall to date in 2024 -- a whopping 45%. Starodubtseva is still seeking her breakthrough into the Top 100, but that kind of big-stage performance is worthy of recognition.

Courtney Nguyen: OK, I concede this doesn’t seem under the radar now, but huge credit to Emma Navarro. Before this year, she played four Grand Slam main draws and won one match. Then, after making the third round of the Australian Open in her tournament debut, the 23-year-old went one better at every subsequent major, culminating in her semifinal run at the US Open.

Jason Juzwiak: I'll go with Elina Svitolina. The Ukrainian has had a quieter year than her 2023 comeback season, and she's struggled with ailments on and off (including a retirement citing a back injury at the Australian Open). But she has brought her best to the majors, reaching the second week at the first three Slams, including a return to the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

Greg Garber: The radar is a subjective measuring tool, but I’ll go with Mirra Andreeva. She’s had a terrific year that got a little lost with all the buzz of an Olympics year. Andreeva reached the semifinals at Roland Garros, won her first title in Iasi, Romania and took a silver medal in doubles with Diana Shnaider. She halved her year-end ranking -- No.23, from No. 46 -- she’s only 17 years old. 

If you had to pick a defining hot shot or rally of the Slam season, what would it be?

Alex Macpherson: Karolina Muchova's leaping, behind-the-back, no-look lob at the US Open gets the spotlight here -- and rightly so. But I'll shine a light on another moment of defensive brilliance that didn’t get its recognition at the time and deserves more now. In the third round of Wimbledon, Daria Kasatkina had all but given up on a third-set point in the face of Paula Badosa's power. Kasatkina stopped and turned to look away briefly. But her desperate lob took so long to come down that she was able to recover, sprint across the court, leap into the air and find a clean lob winner off Badosa's smash. 

Jason Juzwiak: Match by match, Karolina Muchova's run through the US Open surprised us less and less until we all collectively realized we never should have been surprised at all. Without injuries, Muchova's career is an entirely different story, but that's a conversation for another day. Really, we should have been tipped off immediately when she hit this behind-the-back shot in her very first match in New York. 

Greg Garber: Piling on? Guilty. That Muchova behind the back was the quintessential combination of athleticism and artistry. I tried to describe it in a story but fell woefully short. Perhaps the player, along with a healthy Ons Jabeur I enjoy watching the most. You never quite know what’s going to happen.

Courtney Nguyen: Karolina Muchova. Fin.

What moment from this year's Grand Slams truly elevated the sport for you?

Greg Garber: The US Open mixed doubles final. The fact that 37-year-old Sara Errani could win her first mixed major, along with fellow Italian Andrea Vavassori was marvelous enough, but … they beat childhood friends from Chicago Taylor Townsend and Donald Young in a challenging final. This was a story about paying it forward, being a role model and making a difference. Young’s career did not play out as well as the early returns suggested, but he and Townsend made a powerful statement in New York.

Jason Juzwiak: I was moved by the prolonged Roland Garros crowd support for Varvara Gracheva, who represented France in Paris for the first time this year and made her first Grand Slam Round of 16 appearance as the final Frenchwoman standing. Gracheva made the decision to get French citizenship as far back as 2018, and after going through that rigorous process, she was rewarded by the crowd serenading her with "La Marseillaise" after her career-best major performance. "I will remember that moment until the end of my life," Gracheva said afterward. I might, too.

Courtney Nguyen: Anna Blinkova’s aforementioned record-breaking super-tiebreak win to knock Elena Rybakina out of the Australian Open. Her words after the match, summarizing the inner toil of an elite athlete, left an indelible mark on me: “I used to be a perfectionist,” Blinkova said. “I used to never be happy with how I play. For example, if I win the point not in the way that I want, not with a beautiful shot, I was not happy with that. But any point that I win is a good point. Any shot that I put in the court is a good shot. That's what I tell myself. I've been doing a lot of mental work to not panic, to stay calm, to breathe, to not be frustrated after mistakes. I always tell myself that everybody does mistakes, it's normal. As soon as the intention is good, as soon as my intention is to put the ball in the court, that's a good shot.”

Alex Macpherson: France's Chloe Paquet celebrating her second-round win over Katerina Siniakova at Roland Garros. Her arm is aloft in a victory pose. She's clutching her phone, but the camera is facing outward, back on to the empty court. Paquet is framed by French fans, as rapturous in triumph as the player herself. It's a moment of pure joy, and you can't help but be swept up in the emotion. That's before you even realize the significance of the win for Paquet. Two years after peaking at No.101, having seemingly missed her chance to break the Top 100, this result paved the way for her to finally make it in July at the age of 30.