🔗 Share this article Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka Claims Back-to-Back WTA Player of the Year Awards. Aryna Sabalenka finished the year with an outstanding 23-3 Grand Slam match record. The top-ranked player Aryna Sabalenka has been selected the Women's Tennis Association top performer of the year for a second successive season. The twenty-seven-year-old secured four tournament victories – the highest tally on the circuit – which included successfully defending the US Open this past September versus Amanda Anisimova to earn her fourth Grand Slam singles championship. A Year of High Performance Throughout the year, Sabalenka competed in a circuit-leading nine finals, with losses coming against Madison Keys in the Australian Open final in January and Coco Gauff in the French Open final. The star player also won the Brisbane International in January, the Miami Open in March, and the Madrid Open in May. She spent the entire year as the world number one, concluding 2025 atop the rankings for a second straight year. In July, she became the first athlete to top 12,000 WTA ranking points after Serena Williams did so nearly a decade ago. Historic Achievements Sabalenka ended the season with a sixty-three to twelve win-loss record, and collected a record £11m in earnings. She received nearly eighty percent of the votes submitted by global tennis journalists. On 28 December, she is scheduled to face 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". Additional WTA Award Recipients Comeback Player of the Year: Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, twenty-eight, was voted after taking extended hiatus following the arrival of her first child and making her comeback to the sport earlier this season. Rookie of the Year: Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko picked up the award after beginning the season ranked beyond the world's top 300 and soaring to world number 18. Doubles Team of the Year: Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend earned the title after capturing their second career Grand Slam title as a pair. Most Improved Player of the Year: Amanda Anisimova received the accolade after advancing to five championship matches. Last week, Carlos Alcaraz won three awards in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Awards, including the season-ending top rank award, while Jannik Sinner was chosen as the fan favorite for a third consecutive time.