Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka Wins Back-to-Back WTA Player of the Year Honors.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka has been selected the Women's Tennis Association top performer of the year for a second consecutive season.
The twenty-seven-year-old won four tournament victories – the highest tally on the circuit – which included retaining the US Open this past September against Amanda Anisimova to claim her fourth Grand Slam singles title.
A Year of Consistency
Throughout the year, 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 Belarusian also triumphed at 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, ending 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 ended the season with a 63-12 win-loss record, and earned a historic £11m in prize money.
She earned almost eighty percent of the votes cast by global tennis journalists.
On 28 December, she is scheduled to face 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 extended hiatus after the birth of her daughter and returning to the sport at the start of this year.
- Rookie of the Year: Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko was honored with the award after beginning the season ranked outside the world's top 300 and rising to world number 18.
- Partnership of the Year: Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend were selected after capturing their second Grand Slam title together.
- Biggest Leap of the Year: Amanda Anisimova was named after reaching five championship matches.
Recently, Carlos Alcaraz won three awards in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Awards, including the year-end number one award, while Jannik Sinner was chosen as the fan favorite for a third time.
