Dominant Aryna Sabalenka Wins Back-to-Back WTA Top Player Honors.
The top-ranked player Aryna Sabalenka has been selected the Women's Tennis Association player of the year for a second successive year.
The 27-year-old won four titles – the most on tour – including successfully defending the US Open in September versus Amanda Anisimova to secure her fourth career Grand Slam singles triumph.
A Year of High Performance
Throughout the year, 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 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 spent the whole season as the top-ranked player, concluding 2025 on top of the rankings for a second straight year.
This past summer, she became the first athlete to top 12,000 WTA ranking points since Serena Williams did so nearly a decade ago.
Record-Breaking Numbers
Sabalenka finished the competitive year with a 63-12 win-loss record, and earned a historic £11m in tournament winnings.
She earned 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 Battle of the Sexes-style exhibition match in a bid to "elevate women's tennis to a new level".
Other WTA Award Winners
- Comeback Player of the Year: Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, 28, received the award after taking a 13-month break after 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 was honored with 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 were voted after capturing their second Grand Slam title together.
- Most Improved Player of the Year: Amanda Anisimova was named after advancing to five finals.
Recently, 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 voted fans' favourite for a third time.
