Aryna Sabalenka had another year to remember in 2025, reaching three Grand Slam finals, which ended with a US Open title defence. After some downtime over the Christmas period, the Belarusian returns to action with a Battle of the Sexes clash against Nick Kyrgios today.

Sabalenka defended her US Open title by beating Amanda Anisimova in the final. She also claimed titles in Miami, Madrid and Brisbane this year. The 27-year-old defeated Jessica Pegula for the third straight meeting in Miami then offered to split the prize money due to the guilt of beating her again. Speaking during the trophy ceremony, Sabalenka said: “First of all Jess, I’m so sorry, for real. If I could share the trophy with someone, trophy, prize money, points, everything – I would definitely share it with you.

“I’m sorry for that. You’re an incredible player, you always push me so hard to play my best. You’re a great player. Congrats to you and your team on an incredible couple of weeks. I always enjoy playing against you, it’s always great battles, great matches, great level of tennis.

“Continue doing what you’re doing and I’m pretty sure we’re going to play many more finals. I’m not sure about the results because I honestly don’t want to lose in the finals, it sucks I know! But I always enjoy playing against you. You’re an incredible person, player, thank you so much. Wow that was long, you see how much I like this girl!”

Pegula admitted her frustration at being defeated by her rival once again but was gracious in her loss. She said: “First obviously congrats Aryna to you and your team. Three finals, it’s… I really, really don’t want to like you right now. But you’re the best player in the world for a reason.

“You keep pushing everybody and challenging everybody to get better. Just congrats to an amazing couple of weeks here. Great tournament at Indian Wells too. The last month of tennis you’ve been able to play is amazing so congrats.”

Life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Sabalenka, however. She lost the French Open final to Coco Gauff, the Australian Open final to Madison Keys and saw her dream of Wimbledon glory end to Anisimova in the semi-finals.

The world number one was also stripped of WTA ranking points after failing to play the required number of mandatory tournaments this season. Players on the WTA Tour must compete in at least six WTA 500s in a single year, and Sabalenka didn’t meet the threshold in 2025.

Players who skip mandatory events have their ranking ‘zeroed out’ – which means that ranking points from other tournaments they have entered this year are removed as punishment.

Sabalenka lost 10 points but thankfully didn’t slip down the world rankings as she is a full 2,475 ahead of her nearest competitor, Iga Swiatek. The leading female star will hope to continue her upwards trajectory with a third Australian Open win in the new year.