Reigning Sabalenka Wins Back-to-Back WTA Player of the Year Accolades.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka has been selected the Women's Tennis Association player of the year for a second straight season.
The twenty-seven-year-old captured four tournament victories – the most on tour – including retaining the US Open in September against Amanda Anisimova to earn her fourth Grand Slam singles triumph.
A Season of Dominance
Over the course of the tour, Sabalenka competed in a circuit-leading nine finals, with defeats coming to Madison Keys in the Australian Open final in January and Coco Gauff in June's French Open final.
The Belarusian also claimed victory at the Brisbane International in January, the Miami Open in March, and the Madrid Open in May. She spent the whole season as the world number one, finishing 2025 atop the rankings for a second straight year.
In July, she achieved the status of being the first athlete to exceed 12,000 WTA ranking points since Serena Williams did so nearly a decade ago.
Historic Achievements
Sabalenka ended the competitive year with a 63-12 match record, and earned a record £11m in tournament winnings.
She earned nearly eighty percent of the votes submitted by global tennis journalists.
On 28 December, she is poised to compete against 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios in a Battle of the Sexes-style exhibition match in a bid to "elevate women's tennis to a greater prominence".
Additional WTA Award Winners
- Comeback Player of the Year: Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, twenty-eight, received the award after taking a extended hiatus after the birth of her daughter and making her comeback to the sport at the start of this year.
- Newcomer of the Year: Canadian 19-year-old Victoria Mboko received the award after starting the season positioned 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 Grand Slam title as a pair.
- Most Improved Player of the Year: Amanda Anisimova was named after advancing to five finals.
Last week, Carlos Alcaraz secured three awards in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Awards, which included the year-end number one award, while Jannik Sinner was chosen as fans' favourite for a third time.
