Record winner Martina Navratilova, who won the season finale eight times, rates Sabalenka as the “clear favorite”. “Especially on this medium-fast surface. It’s fast enough for her to do damage with her power shots and slow enough to prepare for her shots,” said the recently 69-year-old, who has set a record for eternity with 167 WTA titles.
Sabalenka herself sees it similarly. “I can’t wait to compete here again. I love this tournament and I hope I can do better than last year,” said last year’s semi-finalists. There’s one thing she doesn’t have to worry about in advance: regardless of her performance at the end of the year, she will remain number one in the world.
In four participations so far, the 2022 final in Fort Worth (USA) was the best result for Sabalenka; in the last two years she failed in the semi-finals to the eventual winner. Two years ago, the Polish Iga Swiatek triumphed, the defending champion is the American Coco Gauff. This trio will be there again in 2025 and will probably be placed above the rest of the field.
Half of the field from the USA
Gauff is one of four Americans at the start, as this year’s two-time major finalist Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula and Australian Open winner Madison Keys are also competing. The field is completed by the Italian Jasmine Paolini and the Kazakh Jelena Rybakina, who was the last player to qualify for the Tokyo semi-finals a few days ago.
The draw for the two groups brought Sabalenka the defending champion Gauff, Pegula and Paolini in group “Stefanie Graf”, the number two seeded Swiatek meets Anisimova, Rybakina and Keys in group “Serena Williams”. The game is played in two groups of four, after three games each the best two in the group advance to the semi-finals. The undefeated winner could win 1,500 points for the ranking and the record sum of $5.235 million.
WTA-Finals in Riad
(Saudi Arabia, $15.5 million, hard court)
