Dominant Aryna Sabalenka Secures Back-to-Back WTA Player of the Year Awards.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka has been selected the Women's Tennis Association player of the year for a second successive season.
The 27-year-old won four titles – the highest tally on the circuit – which included retaining the US Open this past September against Amanda Anisimova to secure her fourth career Grand Slam singles championship.
A Season of High Performance
Over the course of the tour, Sabalenka played in a circuit-leading nine finals, 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 star player also triumphed at 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 top-ranked player, finishing 2025 on top of the rankings for a second successive year.
This past summer, she achieved the status of being the first player to exceed 12,000 WTA ranking points since Serena Williams did so nearly a decade ago.
Record-Breaking Numbers
Sabalenka ended the season with a 63-12 match record, and collected a record £11m in prize money.
She received almost 80% of the votes submitted by international tennis media.
On 28 December, she is poised to compete against 2022 Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios in a high-profile mixed-gender exhibition match in a bid to "help bring women's tennis to a greater prominence".
Other WTA Award Honorees
- Returning Star of the Year: Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, 28, was voted after taking a 13-month break after the arrival of her daughter and returning to the sport at the start of this year.
- Newcomer of the Year: Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko was honored with 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 earned the title after securing their second career Grand Slam title together.
- Biggest Leap of the Year: Amanda Anisimova received the accolade after reaching five championship matches.
Recently, Carlos Alcaraz took home three honours in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Awards, which included the year-end number one award, while Jannik Sinner was chosen as fans' favourite for a third consecutive time.
