20 November 2014 | Tennis West

Not too many players produce their career-best season at age 29.

In fact, it’s an age when many players are starting to wind back their careers rather than making impressive strides into unchartered waters.

Casey Dellacqua began season 2014 as the world’s 142nd player, but cracked the top 30 for the first time – peaking at world No.26 – after an exceptionally consistent season highlighted by Grand Slam success.

These milestones have helped her be nominated as a finalist for the Newcombe Medal, awarded to Australia’s most outstanding elite tennis player for the year.

“It’s a great honour to be nominated as one of the finalists for the Newcombe Medal,” she said.

“It’s always a great night with all the current and past Australian players together in one room, and I’m looking forward to getting to Melbourne. Since the award was introduced in 2010 it has been highly regarded by the Australian players, particularly since Newk was such an icon of the game.”

Dellacqua joins Sam Stosur, Lleyton Hewitt and Nick Kyrgios as finalists for the medal. And her achievements in 2014 stack up very well against the competition.

Her run to the fourth round at Melbourne Park as a wildcard was followed by an appearance in the last 16 at the US Open, her best ever performance at Flushing Meadows.

And there was plenty of success at WTA events around the globe as well. She enjoyed a semifinal finish at the Premier-level in Birmingham – her best ever WTA result – as well as quarterfinals at Indian Wells and Tokyo.

A third-round finish in Wuhan helped push her to a career-high ranking of 26th in September.

Throughout the season she enjoyed wins over higher-ranked opponents such as Stosur, Sabine Lisicki, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Kirsten Flipkens and Roberta Vinci, and combined with compatriot Ash Barty to win the doubles title in Strasbourg and final in Birmingham.

Her results were recognised by the women’s tour, which nominated her for the WTA Most Improved Player Award for 2014.

Find out more about the Newcombe Medal Australian Tennis Awards, to be held on Monday 24 November at the Palladium Ballroom at Melbourne’s Crown Entertainment Complex.