Top-ranked Aryna 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 captured four tournament victories – the highest tally on the circuit – which included successfully defending the US Open this past September against Amanda Anisimova to claim her fourth Grand Slam singles triumph.
A Year of Dominance
Across the season, Sabalenka reached 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 the French Open final.
The star player also triumphed at the Brisbane International early in the season, the Miami Open in March, and the Madrid Open in May. She spent the whole season as the top-ranked player, concluding 2025 on top of the rankings for a second successive year.
This past summer, she became the first athlete to exceed 12,000 WTA ranking points after Serena Williams did so nearly a decade ago.
Record-Breaking Numbers
Sabalenka finished the season with a 63-12 win-loss record, and earned a record £11m in earnings.
She received nearly 80% of the votes cast by international tennis media.
Later this month, she is poised to compete against 2022 Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios in a Battle of the Sexes-style exhibition match in a bid to "help bring women's tennis to a higher level".
Other WTA Award Winners
- Returning Star of the Year: Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, twenty-eight, was voted after taking a extended hiatus after the arrival of her first child and making her comeback to the sport earlier this season.
- Rookie of the Year: Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko picked up the award after starting the season ranked beyond the world's top 300 and soaring to world number 18.
- Doubles Team of the Year: Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend earned the title after securing their second Grand Slam title as a pair.
- Most Improved Player of the Year: Amanda Anisimova received the accolade after advancing to five finals.
Last week, Carlos Alcaraz took home three awards in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Awards, which included the year-end number one award, while Jannik Sinner was chosen as the fan favorite for a third consecutive time.
