 Martina Hingis finished the year as world No. 1 for the first time in her career, becoming the youngest woman to do so. She won twelve tournaments during the season, including three majors at the Australian Open, the Wimbledon Championships, and the US Open. She also won three Tier I events and finished runner-up at the fourth major, the French Open. | |
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Duration | December 30, 1996 – November 24, 1997 |
| Edition | 27th |
| Tournaments | 51 |
| Categories | Grand Slam (4) WTA Championships WTA Tier I (9) WTA Tier II (15) WTA Tier III (11) WTA Tier IV (11) |
| Achievements (singles) | |
| Most tournament titles |  Martina Hingis (12) |
| Most tournament finals | Martina Hingis (13) |
| Prize money leader | Martina Hingis (US$3,400,196) |
| Points leader | Martina Hingis (6,264) |
| Awards | |
| Player of the year | Martina Hingis |
| Doubles team of the year |  Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva |
| Most improved player of the year |  Amanda Coetzer |
| Newcomer of the year | Venus Williams |
| Comeback player of the year |  Mary Pierce |
← 1996 1998 → | |
The WTA Tour is the elite tour for professional women's tennis organised by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). The WTA Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tier I, Tier II, Tier III and Tier IV events. ITF tournaments are not part of the WTA Tour, although they award points for the WTA World Ranking.