Dominant Sabalenka Wins Back-to-Back WTA Player of the Year Awards.
The top-ranked player Aryna Sabalenka has been chosen the Women's Tennis Association top performer of the year for a second successive year.
The twenty-seven-year-old captured four tournament victories – the highest tally on the circuit – which included successfully defending the US Open this past September versus Amanda Anisimova to secure her fourth career Grand Slam singles title.
A Season of High Performance
Over the course of the tour, Sabalenka competed in a circuit-leading nine finals, with defeats coming against Madison Keys in the Australian Open final at the start of the year and Coco Gauff in June's French Open final.
The Belarusian also won the Brisbane International early in the season, the Miami Open during the spring, and the Madrid Open in May. She remained the whole season as the top-ranked player, concluding 2025 on top of the rankings for a second straight year.
This past summer, she achieved the status of being the first player to exceed 12,000 WTA ranking points after Serena Williams did so nearly a decade ago.
Record-Breaking Achievements
Sabalenka finished the season with a sixty-three to twelve match record, and collected a historic £11m in prize money.
She received almost 80% 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 high-profile mixed-gender exhibition match in a bid to "elevate women's tennis to a greater prominence".
Other WTA Award Honorees
- Returning Star of the Year: Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, twenty-eight, received the award after taking a extended hiatus following the birth of her daughter and making her comeback to the sport at the start of this year.
- Rookie of the Year: Canadian 19-year-old Victoria Mboko received the award after starting the season positioned outside the world's top 300 and climbing to world number 18.
- Doubles Team of the Year: Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend earned the title after winning their second career Grand Slam title as a pair.
- Biggest Leap of the Year: Amanda Anisimova received the accolade after reaching five championship matches.
Last week, Carlos Alcaraz won three honours in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Awards, including the season-ending top rank award, while Jannik Sinner was chosen as fans' favourite for a third time.
