POLL: Who is 2025 WTA Player of the Year as off season begins after end of year Finals

While the WTA season might be over, it is also a time to celebrate and ahead of the likely WTA Awards to be confirmed in the coming weeks, the WTA Player of the Year could be decided differently by the readers of TennisUpToDate. It is time to have your say.

From Aryna Sabalenka to Iga Swiatek to Coco Gauff all the way to Belinda Bencic, the impact many have had this season could skew even the status quo of one of the top names getting the award.

Albeit for many it will also be a short offseason with January seeing many return. Others will partake in other tournaments such as World Tennis League and exhibitions over Christmas to ramp up their preparation after a short break.

Time to run over some of the leading picks for WTA Player of the Year.

Aryna Sabalenka has both had the best year of her career but also has left titles on the table whether by her own fault or not. She was crowned Year End No.1 way in advance, usually a feat that isn't set until the latter half of the year at the WTA Finals.

But in Riyadh she claimed her trophy and Iga Swiatek having a major slump meant that in reality, she was left way ahead and not needing to do much to take that spot. She did defend the US Open in September but also she lost the Australian Open final surprisingly to Madison Keys - one of the feel good stories of the year.

She was defeated by nemesis Amanda Anisimova in the Wimbledon semi-finals and also the final of Roland Garros by Coco Gauff. While the WTA Finals also saw her very much at a low point as she lost to Elena Rybakina in the final and was barraged off the court.

But she won two WTA 1000 titles and in a sport where consistency is very much hard to come by, she was very much the market leader in 2025 and heads into 2026 as the imperious top player.

It has been an interesting year for Iga Swiatek who is far and away the second best in the world behind Sabalenka with the tandem again finding their way to the top of the tennis tree.

Swiatek has suffered some pretty shocking losses in 2025 but also has emerged again. Always it is Wimbledon that is the issue for her when it comes to a Grand Slam she has not won but this year she demolished Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the final and won a career surface slam.

Albeit she did lose her crown as Queen of Clay, once the imperious players in all events she failed to defend the Madrid and Rome titles as well as Roland Garros and in Miami too and Indian Wells she lost to Alexandra Eala and Mirra Andreeva.

But while she lost to Amanda Anisimova at Flushing Meadows, it is a far cry from last year where she battled a failed doping test and team changes. She now looks in a lot better place.

Speaking of Clay Court Queen, Coco Gauff picked up yet another major title in 2025 winning the French Open. She beat Aryna Sabalenka to win a second major and it was the first win at the event for an American since Serena Williams in 2015.

She also scooped United Cup and Wuhan Open in 2025 but lost early in the pursuit of defending the WTA Finals in RIyadh. She has also suffered with serve again this year and had to hire a coach specifically in the mechanics of serve to stop her constant problems.

Perhaps for a different category but Amanda Anisimova would be realistically player of the year if she didn't lose both Grand Slam finals. She potentially should've reached the summit in Riyadh this past week too.

But Anisimova's rise back to prevalence has been a joy to watch. She won in Qatar and Beijing and despite a disheartening thrashing at Wimbledon, she returned to reach the final of the US Open straight after.

Truly a special year that has seen her rise towards World No.4 and was in a race to seal World No.3 at a point in Riyadh so she heads into a new year after a mooted previous long term break very much ready to attack another year and try and replicate an incredible 2025. But she has shown she has the talent to do it.

Jessica Pegula won a first clay court title at the Charleston Open overcoming Sofia Kenin in the final. She reached the fourth round at the French Open where she lost to Lois Boisson.

She defeated Iga Swiatek in straight sets in the final of the Bad Homburg Open. She lost in the semi-final of the US Open to Sabalenka. She has faced hard ship this year in freak results where she has lost in the first rounds consistently after a great middle of the year.

But at the WTA Finals she made it through to the latter stages losing to Elena Rybakina but ended the year very much happy at her efforts and how it went.

Elena Rybakina finally won the WTA Finals incredibly sealing her spot last minute and going all the way to the title. This after winning Ningbo prior as well as Strasbourg earlier this year.

Rybakina started the year very much in freefall with the news that her coach Stefano Vukov a cloud even around her WTA Finals win had been suspended amid allegations of an abusive culture to their relationship where he was fired and then suddenly brought back in January.

Murmerings were also there about a romantic relationship and him being her agent when brought back into the fold in a news story that dominated the tennis circles for most of the early part of the season. But when he was brought back, Vukov brought results whether liked or not. They capped it off with the ultimate triumph, the WTA Finals with Rybakina leaving the year with over $5m just from one week. Special from the Kazakh.