Halep joins WTA Finals as ambassador, Sabalenka prepares in Dubai, and Sinner reunites with Dimitrov in Paris

In a new Daily Dose of Social Media, the WTA stars are preparing for the last event of the year at the WTA Finals, with Aryna Sabalenka preparing from Dubai, while Jasmine Paolini is also rushing her training ahead of the year-end event.

On the men's side, they are playing the Paris Masters, which saw the arrival of Jannik Sinner this Monday, just one day after lifting the title at the Vienna Open. The Italian also reunited with his good friend Grigor Dimitrov, who is making his return to the courts this week, after 4 months out of competition due to an injury – sustained precisely while facing Sinner during Wimbledon.

Aryna Sabalenka shared some photos on social media as she continues her preparation for the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 1 is training in Dubai – where she resides – before her final event of the year, alternating her training time with leisure time to enjoy the city, following a year packed with travel during a long season.

The 4-time Grand Slam champion will return to the court starting November 1st in Riyadh, where she will be the top seed of the tournament. So far, her best result was reaching the final in 2022 – where she ended up losing to Caroline Garcia – while in the last two editions she was eliminated in the semi-finals, both times against the eventual champion (Swiatek in 2023 and Gauff in 2024). She will seek her first WTA Finals title this time.

The Italian Jasmine Paolini is also preparing; she will play the WTA Finals for the second consecutive year. The 2-time Grand Slam runner-up once again had a great season, winning the Rome Open title, reaching the final in Cincinnati, in addition to semi-finals in 5 other tournaments throughout the season.

The 29-year-old player will compete in the Finals in Riyadh for the second consecutive year and will seek to improve her 2024 participation, where she was eliminated in the Round Robin – after losses to Sabalenka and Zheng, and only one win against Elena Rybakina. Paolini trains in Italy while getting ready for the event.

Jannik Sinner arrived at the Paris Masters this Monday, after a great campaign in Vienna last week, where he lifted his 4th title of the season. The Italian recovered the Vienna trophy – which he had previously won in 2023 – after defeating Alexander Zverev in Sunday's final (3-6, 6-3, 7-5). The Italian world No. 2 showed some physical issues during the match, but managed to secure the victory nonetheless.

The Italian quickly traveled to Paris for the penultimate commitment of the year and even greeted his friend and colleague Grigor Dimitrov – who is making his return to the courts this week in Paris, and who precisely played his last match before his injury against Sinner in the Wimbledon 4th round.

The Italian will play the Paris Masters – a tournament he was absent from in 2024 – which will be his last tournament before the ATP Finals in Turin, which takes place in two weeks. Sinner is the defending champion at the ATP Finals and remains in the running to finish the year as world No. 1 – although for that, it will be necessary to start by winning the title at the Paris Masters to partially cut the wide distance he still has from the No. 1, Carlos Alcaraz.

The former world No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov had an emotional return to the court, on Center Court at the Paris Masters, with a packed stadium that came to see him face local star Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. Dimitrov achieved a triumphant return in great form 7-6, 6-1 and advanced to the second round, where he will face the winner between Jaume Munar and Daniil Medvedev.

Maria Sakkari shared photos of her time in Japan, where she visited Super Nintendo World in Osaka a week ago. The Greek did not achieve great results in the Asian swing, falling in the second round of the China Open and the first round in Osaka and Tokyo (in the latter after coming through qualifying). The former world No. 3 ended her season outside the top-50 for the first time since 2017 – when she finished the year at world No. 51, the same projected ranking she has for this 2025.

Simona Halep was announced as part of the tournament ambassadors for the WTA Finals and will be present in Riyadh as a former player. The former world No. 1 played the WTA Finals 5 times in her career, reaching the final in 2014, her best result, although she ended up losing to Serena Williams. The Romanian retired from professional activity earlier this year after her participation in the Winners Open in Bucharest in February.

The 2-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova took advantage of her time off competition – after concluding the 2025 season – and used the opportunity to visit the city of Vienna – precisely while her male colleagues were competing in the Vienna Open. The Czech tennis player once again faced injuries in the final part of the year, being forced to retire in the third round of the China Open while facing McCartney Kessler, due to an injury (6-1, 5-7, 0-3, ret.).

The former world No. 2 missed a large part of the season – making her first appearances only in May of this year. Between injuries and irregular results, Krejcikova finished the year with a decent 16-9 record, although the few tournaments played will complicate her year-end ranking, as she is currently only No. 58 in the WTA Race. The 29-year-old Czech's best result of the year was her appearance in the quarter-finals of the US Open, where she ended up falling to the American Jessica Pegula in straight sets.