Reigning Sabalenka Wins Back-to-Back WTA Top Player Accolades.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka has been voted the Women's Tennis Association player of the year for a second straight year.
The twenty-seven-year-old won four tournament victories – the highest tally on the circuit – including retaining the US Open this past September versus Amanda Anisimova to secure her fourth career Grand Slam singles triumph.
A Season of Consistency
Over the course of the tour, Sabalenka played in a circuit-leading nine championship matches, with defeats coming to 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 in January, the Miami Open in March, and the Madrid Open as the clay season progressed. She remained the entire year as the world number one, ending 2025 atop the rankings for a second successive year.
This past summer, she achieved the status of being the first athlete to top 12,000 WTA ranking points after Serena Williams in 2015.
Record-Breaking Achievements
Sabalenka concluded the season with a sixty-three to twelve match record, and collected a historic £11m in prize money.
She garnered almost 80% of the votes cast by international tennis media.
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 "raise women's tennis to a higher level".
Additional WTA Award Honorees
- Returning Star of the Year: Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, twenty-eight, received the award after taking a extended hiatus following the arrival of her first child and making her comeback to the sport at the start of this year.
- Rookie of the Year: Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko received the award after beginning the season positioned beyond the world's top 300 and climbing to world number 18.
- Doubles Team of the Year: Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend were selected after winning their second Grand Slam title as a pair.
- Biggest Leap of the Year: Amanda Anisimova received the accolade after making five finals.
Last week, 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 fans' favourite for a third time.
