Top 15 unique tennis trophies

It inspired us to trawl through our photo libraries to look at some more prizes dished out to tennis players, because it has increasingly become a sport where an old tin pot is not sufficient if you really want to reward the hero of the week.

Sure, none of the below can replace the true iconic class of - say - the Gentlemen's Singles Trophy at Wimbledon, but from the sublime to the ridiculous will give you the top 15 unique trophies in tennis.

We start with this week's winners and David Ferrer certainly didn't mind everything going all pear-shaped as he took home his little doozey for his final victory over Fernando Verdasco.

Sara Errani also got to rock the sombrero look by beating Flavia Pennetta and received what looks like a giant baseball for her troubles.

Roger Federer's ship came in at Dubai this week as he beat Andy Murray for his fifth title in the emirate. A rather funky looking runner-up prize for Mr. Murray too.

Angelique Kerber got a special trophy for her first ever WTA victory when she won the Paris Open earlier this year. The trophy was designed to celebrate the 20th staging of the tournament.

The trophy that Novak Djokvic won at the start of the year was designed by an art and design student at the Zayed University in Abu Dhabi after a competiton was held by the tournament orgnaisers.

The current Paris Masters trophy looks like a pile of liquorice but we preferred this old trophy from a few years ago. Marat Safin looks suitably bemused after receiving this in 2002. He also won in Paris in 2000 when they had a much more sober glass piece, but he got his hands on the tree again in 2004.

Federer was given this special trophy from his hometown in Basel for being the most successful player in the tournament's history. The trophy rather cleverly incorporates the names of past winners of the event.

A winner's plate is not an unusual prize in women's tennis, but the prize awarded in Tokyo certainly looks a million miles away from the women's Wimbledon trophy. Late year's winner Agnieszka Radwanska certainly looked delighted to add it to her collection.

Serena Williams has plenty of silverware in her collection but seemed to enjoy getting something a little different in Toronto last year.

Spain's Marcel Granollers looked like he was struggling just to hang on to this hefty piece of rock he received for winning the clay court tournament in the Swiss city of Gstaad last year.

The grass court event is now sponsored by UNICEF and as a result the design of the winners' trophies incorporates children's drawings. Last year's winners were Dmitry Tursunov and Roberta Vinci.

There was nothing particular flashy about the trophy for the now defunct Tashkent Open but we couldn't resist putting it in because they used to make the winner wear native Uzbek dress — take it away Tim Henman.

Novak Djokovic had a touch of the pied piper about him after his victory in Madrid last year.

We've saved the best until last. In 2003, the organisers in Gstaad gave Roger Federer a cow soon after he won his first Wimbledon title.