Top-ranked Sabalenka Secures Back-to-Back WTA Player of the Year Accolades.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka has been chosen the Women's Tennis Association player of the year for a second straight season.
The twenty-seven-year-old won four tournament victories – the highest tally on the circuit – which included retaining the US Open in September against Amanda Anisimova to claim her fourth Grand Slam singles triumph.
A Year of High Performance
Across the season, Sabalenka played in a tour-best nine championship matches, with defeats coming to Madison Keys in the Australian Open final in January and Coco Gauff in June's French Open final.
The star player also claimed victory at the Brisbane International in January, the Miami Open in March, and the Madrid Open as the clay season progressed. She remained the entire year as the world number one, concluding 2025 on top of the rankings for a second successive year.
In July, she achieved the status of being the first player to top 12,000 WTA ranking points since Serena Williams did so nearly a decade ago.
Historic Achievements
Sabalenka finished the competitive year with a 63-12 match record, and earned a record £11m in prize money.
She earned almost eighty percent of the votes submitted by global tennis journalists.
On 28 December, she is poised to compete against 2022 Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios in a high-profile mixed-gender exhibition match in a bid to "elevate women's tennis to a greater prominence".
Other WTA Award Winners
- Returning Star of the Year: Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, twenty-eight, was voted after taking extended hiatus after the birth of her first child and making her comeback to the sport at the start of this year.
- Rookie of the Year: Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko received the award after beginning the season ranked beyond the world's top 300 and rising to the eighteenth spot.
- Partnership of the Year: Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend were selected after securing their second career Grand Slam title as a pair.
- Most Improved Player of the Year: Amanda Anisimova was named after making five championship matches.
Last week, Carlos Alcaraz won three awards in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Awards, including the season-ending top rank award, while Jannik Sinner was voted fans' favourite for a third time.
