Reigning Sabalenka Secures Back-to-Back WTA Player of the Year Accolades.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka has been selected the Women's Tennis Association player of the year for a second straight season.
The twenty-seven-year-old secured four tournament victories – the most on tour – including retaining the US Open in September versus Amanda Anisimova to secure her fourth career Grand Slam singles championship.
A Year of High Performance
Across the season, 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 claimed victory at the Brisbane International early in the season, the Miami Open in March, and the Madrid Open as the clay season progressed. She remained the whole season as the world number one, 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 since Serena Williams in 2015.
Record-Breaking Achievements
Sabalenka ended the competitive year with a 63-12 win-loss record, and collected a record eleven million pounds in tournament winnings.
She received nearly 80% of the votes cast by international tennis media.
Later this month, she is set to play 2022 Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios in a Battle of the Sexes-style exhibition match in a bid to "raise women's tennis to a greater prominence".
Other WTA Award Recipients
- 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 was honored with the award after beginning the season ranked outside the world's top 300 and climbing to the eighteenth spot.
- Partnership of the Year: Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend were selected after capturing their second Grand Slam title as a pair.
- Most Improved Player of the Year: Amanda Anisimova received the accolade after reaching five championship matches.
Last week, Carlos Alcaraz took home three awards in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Awards, which included the season-ending top rank award, while Jannik Sinner was chosen as fans' favourite for a third time.