WTA Player Awards 2025 Nominees confirmed: Sabalenka, Swiatek and Anisimova lead Player of the Year as Mboko, Eala, Lys battle for Best Newcomer

Thursday, 20 November 2025 at 10:20

Anisimova with her runners up trophy with winner Sabalenka.

With the WTA season ending this week, it is onto the WTA Player Awards and as expected, it is the top names in women's tennis including Aryna Sabalenka, Amanda Anisimova and Iga Swiatek leading the way.

There are a multitude of categories available with the WTA confirming the winners themselves as opposed to a fan vote. Albeit TennisUpToDate will also crown a winner with the poll out now for the Player of the Year from a multitude of options.

As well as Player of the Year, there are votes Doubles Team of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Most Improved Player and Newcomer of the Year. Here is a run through of the categories and who is nominated and why.

WTA Player of the Year

The main award of course is the WTA Player of the Year. It is mostly made up of top ten players with Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Amanda Anisimova leading the way in terms of the likely picks.

Swiatek was the first Polish player man or woman to win Wimbledon. She also won two additional titles including Cincinnati and qualified for the WTA Finals again. All of this in hat has perhaps been one of the most testing years of her career. She lost her Queen of Clay moniker but thriving on grass shows that there is still very much the top game there.

Sabalenka was World No.1 from the start of the season until the end, she reached nine finals and won four titles before losing in the final of the WTA Finals to Elena Rybakina who is also nominated after winning in Riyadh sealing three titles in Strasbourg, Ningbo and Riyadh. She went 5-0 in Saudi Arabia.

Amanda Anisimova perhaps is one of the favourites for most of the awards given the year she has had. She has reached two Grand Slam finals, won two WTA 1000 titles and qualified for the WTA Finals losing in the semi-finals. Coco Gauff and Madison Keys are also nominated after winning French Open and Australian Open.

Nominees

Amanda Anisimova

Coco Gauff

Madison Keys

Elena Rybakina

Aryna Sabalenka

Iga Swiatek

WTA Doubles Team of the Year

Onto doubles and Mirra Andreeva is nominated under two categories. The first for her tandem with Diana Shnaider in which they won Miami and Brisbane.

Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe won US Open and Stuttgart, Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens starred too winning Wimbledon and the WTA Finals as well as runner-up finishes in Madrid and Rome.

While Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini won their first Grand Slam together at Roland Garros as well as defending Rome. Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova reached the summit of the rankings and won Australian Open and Dubai as well as reaching the US Open final.

Teams

Mirra Andreeva / Diana Shnaider

Gabriela Dabrowski / Erin Routliffe

Sara Errani / Jasmine Paolini

Veronika Kudermetova / Elise Mertens

Katerina Siniakova / Taylor Townsend

WTA Most Improved Player of the Year

Player who showed significant improvement throughout the season

Amanda Anisimova will be the lead name for this next award albeit a few others can also stake a claim. Ekaterina Alexandrova emerged from the pack to make a top 10 debut. She reached four WTA 500 finals including a title in Linz and made the fourth round in three Slams.

Clara Tauson won Auckland, reached a final in Dubai and reached another WTA 1000 semi-final in Montreal posting a new career high of World No.12. Linda Noskova reached finals in Prague and Tokyo and is up to World No.13.

While Mirra Andreeva won Indian Wells and Dubai and made the Quarter-Finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Likely a shoe-in for this award earlier in the year, she failed to qualify for the WTA Finals in the singles despite her incredible year and struggled with injury towards the end allowing Paolini and Rybakina to usurp her.

Nominees

Ekaterina Alexandrova

Mirra Andreeva

Amanda Anisimova

Linda Noskova

Clara Tauson

WTA Newcomer of the Year

Player who made their first notable accomplishments on the WTA Tour during the season

Onto Newcomer of the Year and given the amount of top talents now on the tour it is a malaise of the top names who have made strides this year.

Victoria Mboko solely for winning Montreal and then Hong Kong has to be a favourite and dominated the ITF Tour before breaking out as a teenager in Miami and making the third round at Roland Garros.

Lois Boisson after playing mostly smaller tour events for a long time after having her French Open dream snatched away due to an ACL last year returned with a bang and reached the semi-finals as a wildcard on debut. She won her first title in Hamburg a month later.

While Alexandra Eala has also had a splendid year reaching the semi-finals of Miami and reaching the final in Eastbourne. That title was won by Maya Joint who is also nominated after winning also in Rabat and is now the Aussie No.1.

Iva Jovic is also a player at the age of 17 to watch in the seasons to come. The American won the Guadalajara title and made the third round in Cincinnati as a lucky loser playing the main draw at all four Slams too.

While Eva Lys has made one of the biggest rises of this year. She has gone from World No.129 to World No.40 and made Quarter-Finals in Beijing and fourth round of the US Open after also reaching the latter stages of the Australian Open as a lucky loser. Lucky Lys was the moniker and she carried that through the year. Also a player well known for her fanbase on social media who also shares the unfortunate side of being a tennis player shining a light on abuse.

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Nominees

Lois Boisson

Alexandra Eala

Maya Joint

Iva Jovic

Eva Lys

Victora Mboko

WTA Comeback Player of the Year

Player whose ranking previously dropped due to injury or personal reasons and current season’s results helped restore ranking.

Finally it is Comeback Player of the Year which on the face of it could include Anisimova and even Rybakina but it is more based on those who have had a long injury lay-off and have returned or personal issues.

Belinda Bencic has to be favourite for this one given that she returned as a new mother fully at the start of this season. She reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, won the title in Abu Dhabi as well as semi-finals at Wimbledon and won a second title in Tokyo.

Belinda Bencic winning a second title in China.

Only really Elina Svitolina has taken to life after motherhood with as much ease as the Swiss ace. Sorana Cirstea also has to be up there. Nearly ending her career she returned and won Cleveland as a qualifier and reached a string of Quarter-Finals and semi-finals ending the year in the top 50 after foot surgery last year.

Czech aces Marketa Vondrousova and Barbora Krejcikova also are up there both missing major time due to injury and both having stand-out US Opens. While Anastasija Sevastova after tearing her ACL returned and made multiple runs including the third round in Madrid and beating Pegula in Montreal.

Nominees

Belinda Bencic

Sorana Cirstea

Barbara Krejcikova

Anastasiya Sevastova

Marketa Vondrousova

Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief

Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.

Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.

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