Aryna Sabalenka has revealed her “hope” of continuing her fine form beyond 2025 after sealing a second straight year-end world No 1 finish.
World No 1 Sabalenka is set to take to the court for one final tournament in 2025, with the 27-year-old looking to lift the WTA Finals title for the first time in Riyadh.
Regardless of how she fares in Riyadh, the Belarusian is guaranteed to finish 2025 atop the WTA Rankings, with the cushion between her and world No 2 Iga Swiatek too big for the Pole to close down.
Sabalenka also finished as the year-end No 1 in 2024, and she will become just the seventh woman to spend a full calendar year atop the WTA Rankings since the rankings system launched in 1975.
She is the first woman to achieve that feat since Ashleigh Barty in 2021, also joining Serena Williams, Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert in that exclusive club.
Sabalenka was asked about securing the year-end No 1 ranking during her pre-tournament press conference in Riyadh and admitted it was “crazy” to think she had achieved such consistency.
“It means a lot,” said Sabalenka.
“It just tells how consistent I am as a player, which is crazy to think. If you go back like five years ago, if someone would tell me I’ll be that consistent, I would be shocked. It just tells me that the hard work pays off.
“I really hope that I will just keep doing what I’m doing.”
Sabalenka has won a tour-leading four WTA titles in 2025, with a further four finals to her name across the year.
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The Belarusian claimed her fourth Grand Slam singles title at the US Open, defeating Amanda Anisimova in the final, after tough defeats at the opening three majors of the season.
Madison Keys beat her in the Australian Open final, and she then fell to Coco Gauff in the French Open final, before falling to Anisimova in the semi-final of Wimbledon — with all those defeats coming in three sets.
Sabalenka’s reaction to her French Open final defeat attracted criticism from some quarters, and she later faced renewed pressure to cap off her dominant season with a Slam title in New York, though she would successfully defend her title at Flushing Meadows.
Reflecting on her year, the 27-year-old revealed she was “grateful” for what she had learned ahead of her run to the title in New York.
She added: “I mean, it was tough. It was really tough. It was tough lessons. But, at the end, I think it was much-needed lessons.
“I had to learn how to control myself even better. Even though I improved a lot in that part of the game, still, you know, not good enough. I think in those big finals, that’s one thing that was missing, was my emotions.
“I think especially after Roland Garros and the media and everything that happened after the match, I just had to sit back and look at everything from the side, and take better control over my emotions.
“After winning the US Open, I was actually quite grateful for those lessons.
“It was really tough. But I spend so much time and years in this sport to [not] just give up after a couple losses in the finals, which is not the first round. It means I’m just there, I need to learn something, improve it and try better.”
Sabalenka is the top seed at the WTA Finals and will begin her campaign on Sunday against eighth seed Jasmine Paolini, whom she beat in the round-robin stage back in 2024.
She will also take on third seed Gauff — in their first meeting since the French Open final — and fifth seed Jessica Pegula, who snapped a four-match losing streak to Sabalenka at the Wuhan Open earlier this month.
The four-time Grand Slam singles champion was a finalist at the year-end championships back in 2022, finishing as the runner-up to Caroline Garcia in Fort Worth.
Read Next: WTA Finals: What ranking points have Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff & co dropped from 2024 tournament?
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