🔗 Share this article

World number one Aryna Sabalenka has been voted the Women's Tennis Association top performer of the year for a second consecutive season.

The twenty-seven-year-old won four tournament victories – the highest tally on the circuit – including successfully defending the US Open in September against Amanda Anisimova to earn her fourth Grand Slam singles triumph.

A Year of High Performance

Throughout the year, Sabalenka competed in a circuit-leading nine championship matches, with losses 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 claimed victory at the Brisbane International in January, the Miami Open during the spring, and the Madrid Open as the clay season progressed. She remained the whole season as the top-ranked player, finishing 2025 on top of the rankings for a second straight year.

This past summer, she achieved the status of being the first athlete to exceed 12,000 WTA ranking points since Serena Williams in 2015.

Record-Breaking Achievements

Sabalenka concluded the competitive year with a sixty-three to twelve match record, and collected a historic £11m in tournament winnings.

She garnered almost 80% of the votes cast by global tennis journalists.

Later this month, she is scheduled to face 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 greater prominence".

Additional WTA Award Honorees

• Returning Star of the Year: Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, twenty-eight, was voted after taking 13-month break after the birth of her daughter and returning to the sport at the start of this year.
• Newcomer of the Year: Canadian 19-year-old Victoria Mboko picked up the award after starting the season positioned beyond the world's top 300 and soaring to the eighteenth spot.
• Doubles Team of the Year: Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend earned the title after securing 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 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 time.