The International Tennis Federation (ITF) knows how to pick pictures. The organization does a yearly best-of for best photos of the year for tennis, but 2024 was a bit different. The winning photo featured not only a great click but a fantastic human moment.
The winning picture was taken by German photographer Frank Mohler and was of Tokito Oda, a Japanese wheelchair tennis player who (and let’s be honest; he would easily defeat most of the rest of the world in a match) won the Summer Paralympic Games. After winning the final point. Oda did not simply fall backward, he did so while dismantling his wheelchair.
The moment was captured beautifully by Mohler, but it was also one of the excellence of the human spirit. Oda was saying he is much more than a wheelchair tennis player; he was simply a great tennis player. The photo was legendary, and so was Oda. We were all better human beings for having experienced it.
Mohler won $3,000 for winning the ITF award. In second place was French photographer Agathe Monier’s photo of Rafael Nadal leaving the French Open court after his final match (he lost to Alexander Zverev in the first round in 2024). In third place was Australian photographer Fiona Hamilton’s photo of a young child under the net at the National Indigenous Tennis Carnival.
In completely different news, Jasmine Paolini has come under some criticism for playing doubles with Nick Kyrgios. Why? Who knows? Some tennis fans simply do not like Kyrgios or anyone associated with him. He is very outspoken and Paolini is very spunky (but quite nice), so the pairing was a little odd.
The match happened at the World Tennis League event in Abu Dhabi. It proved to be successful for Paolini and Kyrgios as they defeated Denis Shapovalov and Caroline Garcia 7-5. Kyrgios looked fit and ready to return to playing professional tennis, while, as we all know, Paolini is fresh off her best year on the WTA tour.
Still, some asked on social media whether Paolini should have been playing with Kyrgios. Maybe the better question is if Paolini was fine to play with the Australian who, though outspoken, has not been proven to fail a drug test. Some people simply do not like his views. His tennis appears just fine.