Reigning Aryna Sabalenka Wins Back-to-Back WTA Player of the Year Honors.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka has been voted the Women's Tennis Association top performer of the year for a second consecutive year.
The twenty-seven-year-old captured four titles – the highest tally on the circuit – including retaining the US Open in September versus Amanda Anisimova to earn her fourth career Grand Slam singles title.
A Year of Dominance
Over the course of the tour, Sabalenka played in a tour-best nine finals, with defeats coming to Madison Keys in the Australian Open final in January and Coco Gauff in June's French Open final.
The Belarusian also triumphed at the Brisbane International in January, the Miami Open during the spring, and the Madrid Open in May. She remained the whole season as the world number one, ending 2025 atop the rankings for a second straight year.
In July, she became the first athlete to exceed 12,000 WTA ranking points since Serena Williams in 2015.
Historic Numbers
Sabalenka concluded the season with a 63-12 match record, and collected a record £11m in tournament winnings.
She garnered almost 80% of the votes cast by global tennis journalists.
On 28 December, 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 new level".
Other WTA Award Honorees
- Returning Star of the Year: Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, twenty-eight, was voted after taking 13-month break after the arrival of her first child 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 beginning the season ranked outside the world's top 300 and rising to world number 18.
- Doubles Team of the Year: Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend were selected after winning their second career Grand Slam title together.
- Most Improved Player of the Year: Amanda Anisimova received the accolade after reaching five championship matches.
Last week, Carlos Alcaraz secured three honours 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 consecutive time.