The field for the WTA Finals in Riyadh is set. It took nearly 10 months and the last week in Tokyo to sort out the final qualifying spot, but the lineup is now official: Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina, Madison Keys and Jasmine Paolini.
This order reflects the Race standings that will be finalized and published on Monday.
It’s a mix of heavy hitters and fresh storylines — major winners, first-timers and players who arrived here on very different paths. Some powered through all year, some surged late, and some had to solve real problems along the way just to make it back to this stage.
To break down the field, we turned to someone who knows this tournament better than anyone: Martina Navratilova.
She won the WTA Finals eight times — nearly twice as many as any other player — and understands what separates qualifying from actually winning the title. Here’s her read on the eight players heading to Riyadh:
No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka
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“Incredibly consistent and excellent. One major win, two finals and a semifinal. She was only three or four matches from winning the Grand Slam. Her consistency is not to be underestimated. There are so many players you can lose to these days, you have to be on your game at all times, and she was.
“She peaked well for all the majors. She’s still rueing the French Open more than anything. She could have won that match against Coco Gauff. But she bounced back and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, where she was beaten by Amanda Anisimova rather than beating herself. Then she won the US Open pretty decisively.
“She’s the heavy favorite on any surface, but particularly on a medium-pace hard court where you get a solid bounce and good footing. Her shots pay off on any surface and she has enough time to get into position. It’s fast enough for her to do damage and slow enough for her to prepare for her shots. She’s deadly on this stuff.”
No. 2 Iga Swiatek
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“I feel like she’s a bit of an enigma this year based on the standards she set in recent seasons. She didn’t win the one everyone thought she would at Roland Garros, then she turned around and won the one no one expected her to win. Maybe the pressure was off and she said, ‘I’m just going to go for it.’
“She’s been a bit up and down, but she won Wimbledon in an amazing way. She flattened out her shots and didn’t worry about missing here and there. That’s the kind of aggressive approach she needs to bring to Riyadh. That should give her some confidence.
No. 3 Coco Gauff
“She’s played nine hard-court finals and won them all. That’s crazy. One of those was last year in Riyadh, so look out if she gets rolling again. Her backhand is like Djokovic’s — maybe with even more power. It’s money.
“When the serve is happening, it’s a real weapon, and I’m glad she’s figuring that out. Her movement is better than anybody else. She can always depend on that. It’s the one thing fully under her control. She knows she can run and defend no matter what. Then she manages the rest. When she comes forward, she has a very good volley and it’s hard to get the ball past her. She just won in Beijing, so she should be confident.”
No. 4 Amanda Anisimova
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“Oh my goodness. She has been through so much — losing her father and dealing with everything else that came with that. The expectations were big, almost on par with Mirra Andreeva and Coco Gauff now. Big things were expected of her and she tried to grow into that. Sometimes the pressure is too much if the results don’t come on the timeline people expect. It gets tricky. There were injuries, too.
“Now everything just came together for her this year and it’s great to see because she’s such a nice person. She hits a heavy ball. She reminds me of Lindsay Davenport. That Wimbledon loss had to be sitting in the back of her mind, but she beat Iga in the US Open semifinal and played well in the final. That’s a hard one to bounce back from, but she did it.
“She hits such a clean ball. It’s a pleasure to watch from a purist’s point of view. She’s accurate on both sides and takes time away. If I were serving to her, I’d just go body, body, body, because you don’t want to give her a free swing.”
No. 5 Jessica Pegula
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“She’s been picking it up. She’s adapted her game to be more aggressive, going for her shots, coming forward more, using the drop shot. She hits a nice ball, not too much topspin or slice when she’s in rhythm. Now she’s mixing it up much better — the drop shot, coming in, the low-bouncing slice.
“She’s a relatively late bloomer, but she changed her game and it’s paid off. She wants the ball coming onto her racquet so she can redirect, kind of like Radwanska. In slow conditions, she has to create her own pace, and in China she was swinging harder at everything — her serve, her groundstrokes. When the court is slow, she can really whale away.”
No. 6 Elena Rybakina
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“When she won Wimbledon in 2022, the future looked bright. Her game is beautiful. She has such easy power and she moves well. The serve is a killer. She has all the shots and she’s proven she can win on any surface.
“If I were her, I’d work on the slice more, just to change things up. Mix in more drop shots off both wings so she can knife the ball and keep opponents guessing. It’s hard to tell sometimes what she’s thinking on court — she has a serious game face — but with the way she’s been playing in Asia, you can’t count her out. She’s playing as well as she has all season.”
No. 7 Madison Keys
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“We were all pulling for her. I cried when she won the Australian Open. I was so happy for her. I thought she’d be a massive force after that because so much of her challenge was emotional. The game has always been there.
“She changed her racquet and strings, but she also changed her attitude, and that was the biggest shift. She was much more consistent in Australia. It’s been two months since she’s played a match and there’s nothing wrong with that. She decided it was a good time to take a break, train for this tournament and be physically ready for Australia. That’s smart short-term and long-term thinking.
“She gave herself permission not to play. I wish I had done that. She should be fresh and sharp. She’ll like this surface. It suits her.”
No. 8 Jasmine Paolini
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“She has a really fun game to watch. She’s a torpedo out there, and she defends well, attacks well, and she understands spins, positioning and angles. She’s like a mini Ashleigh Barty with a smaller serve.
“She qualified in both singles and doubles, and that can be rough with round-robin play. You’re playing a match every day, and it’s killer if you make both semifinals. That could be 10 matches in eight days if you go all the way. That’s a big ask. But she’s build for this.”