The WTA’s 2025 Elite Eight

(1) Aryna Sabalenka
Record: 59-11
Titles: Brisbane, Miami, Madrid, U.S. Open
Finals: Australian Open, Indian Wells, Stuttgart, Roland Garros
WTA Finals history: 8-8 record (2022 runner-up), fifth qualification
Now No. 1 for a calendar year consecutively, you really can’t argue that Sabalenka is the player to beat — especially on hardcourts. The Belarussian exceeds on the surface, producing a 35-6 record this year alone. What she’s done well has been her consistency across all surfaces and pretty much all events. Her 2025 season alone saw eight finals, including three Grand Slams and what’s even more impressive is that she only fell before the semifinals just three times (Doha second round, Dubai first round, Cincinnati quarterfinals). She will benefit from the indoor hardcourts, but historically, the WTA Finals haven’t been kind to the World No. 1. Throughout her career, Sabalenka boasts an 8-8 record at the tournament, falling in the 2022 final and reaching the semifinals the previous two years.

(2) Iga Swiatek
Record: 61-15
Titles: Wimbledon, Cincinnati, Seoul
Finals: Bad Homburg
WTA Finals history: 11-4 record (2023 champion), fifth qualification
It’s been quite an interesting 2025 campaign for Iga Swiatek. The Pole went over a calendar year without winning a title, including a titleless claycourt swing where she’s been the dominant player the last couple of seasons. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, won her first Wimbledon that was stamped with a 6-0, 6-0, demolition of Amanda Anisimova in the final. Like Sabalenka, what makes Swiatek so tough is her consistency. Sure, she only made four finals in 2025, but she did reach another five semifinals. To me, what really separated Swiatek’s first half of the year and second has been her dedication to going for her shots. She’s flattened out her groundstrokes, has attempted to go for more on her second serve but perhaps most importantly, is trusting the process more instead of treating each match like life or death.

(3) Coco Gauff
Record: 47-14
Titles: Roland Garros, Wuhan
Finals: Madrid, Rome
WTA Finals history: 6-6 record (2024 champion), fourth qualification
The reigning champion has had a bit of a topsy-turvy season and while it was highlighted by a second Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, her mechanics were the talk of a bit of the year. While a lot of negativity surrounds her forehand and even more so her serve, the American makes up for it — and more, in my opinion — with her backhand and movement. Gauff might double fault twice as much as the rest of the field (she’s hit one 9.5% of the time with Anisimova next at 6.2%), she has the best defense on tour. She will be able to outgrind perhaps the rest of the field on her reserves alone. She’s coming off of a strong China swing where she made the semifinals in Beijing and won Wuhan, so a fresh Gauff could be a menace for the rest of the field — especially returning to the arena she won it all last year.

(4) Amanda Anisimova
Record: 43-16
Titles: Doha, Beijing
Finals: Queen’s Club, Wimbledon, U.S. Open
WTA Finals history: debut
To me, the biggest wildcard of the qualifiers is Amanda Anisimova. What a breakthrough season the American has had. She shocked many by winning the WTA 1000 in Doha unseeded and only dropping one set in her six matches. Then, she continued to reach new heights by making her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon — only to be double bageled in the final. For many, being a trivia answer could be a nail in the coffin, but Anisimova rallied back to reach the final in the next Slam at the U.S. Open. In her only tournament since then, she had to claw her way and found herself with another WTA 1000, this time the two-weeker in Beijing. She arguably has the best backhand on tour and when firing on all cylinders, she’s near-unbeatable and has wins over the “Big Three” in Sabalenka, Swiatek and Gauff. If she can get over the first-time jitters of playing in the Finals, she could emerge as a surprise champ.

(5) Jessica Pegula
Record: 51-21
Titles: Austin, Charleston, Bad Homburg
Finals: Adelaide, Miami, Wuhan
WTA Finals history: 4-6 record (2023 runner-up), fourth qualification
If there’s one player you can bet on for consistency, it’s Jessica Pegula. The American is a textbook all-court player and that’s shown in her three titles across three surfaces. However, while consistency is great to make it to the Finals, she lacks the one weapon and that’s kept her in that “bridesmaid” status. She didn’t have the best Asian Swing with a 1-2 record at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals and then playing eight consecutive three-set matches en route to the Beijing semifinals and Wuhan final, but those results were enough to have her qualify for Riyadh. For Pegula, a lot will depend on the group she’s given — though you could argue the same for each player. She went 0-3 in her first Finals and last year went 0-2 before withdrawing due to injury. That scar tissue could be one intangible to keep an eye out on.

(6) Elena Rybakina
Record: 54-20
Titles: Strasbourg, Ningbo
Finals:
WTA Finals history: 2-4 record, third qualification
The final qualifier of the season, Elena Rybakina is perhaps the biggest question mark to me. After winning her Tokyo quarterfinal to seal her berth, she gave a walkover due to not needing to do anything else injury, so something to look out for is her health. Since her triumph at Wimbledon in 2021, there have been countless discussions about the constant injuries and illnesses the Kazakh has dealt with, along with the relationship she has with coach Stefano Vukov. Still, she’s found a bit of form entering Riyadh but she’s the lone qualifier to not have a Grand Slam or WTA 1000 title. Her two titles stem from WTA 500 tournaments — Strasbourg the week before Roland Garros and this past week in Tokyo that was a bit depleted. She has the most amount of losses of the field and many of them weren’t the prettiest. While she has the aggressive baseline game to knock off anyone in the field, I don’t think she’ll be able to make much noise this week.

(7) Madison Keys
Record: 37-13
Titles: Adelaide, Australian Open
Finals:
WTA Finals history: 1-2 record, second qualification
Report: For Madison Keys, simply playing in Riyadh is a win. After a promising start to the year that saw her finally win that elusive Grand Slam, she’s only played eight matches since the start of July and hasn’t played since her opening round loss at the U.S. Open where she produced over 100 unforced errors. Health will be the biggest question for the American, who has been dealing with an undisclosed injury but shared on her Player’s Box podcast that she was planning to play Wuhan so she’s been listening to her body whereas in the past that might’ve not been the case. For Keys, the game to beat anyone in this field is there, but she could also lose to anyone and the rust might be too much. The last time she qualified for the Finals was in 2016 and she’s broken the record for time in between two berths. However, she’s not making the trip just to play and this surface might be the perfect one to reclaim some of her Melbourne magic.

(8) Jasmine Paolini
Record: 46-18
Titles: Rome
Finals: Cincinnati
WTA Finals history: 1-2 record, second qualification
Report: Last but certainly not least is Jasmine Paolini. Last year’s revelation could’ve had her own sophomore slump, but she’s been able to be consistent and make a strong run when it mattered. She delighted home fans with a surprise title win at the WTA 1000 in Rome and then had a strong second half of the year that spurred a Cincinnati final, Beijing quarterfinal and Wuhan semifinal, on top of leading Italy to another Billie Jean King Cup title. What Paolini does well is that she wins when she’s expected, however when she’s the underdog, she doesn’t have the toolbox to overcome a “better” opponent much of the time. Sure, she has a great win here or there, but to win the Finals, you need more weaponry. That being said, she’s the only player in Riyadh to qualify for singles and doubles, so she’ll be playing a match every day. For some, that could be too taxing but I think that could be a real benefit for the Italian.

The draw will be coming out later today, so we’ll see next week how my infamous predictions do and be sure to check out the eight doubles pairings that will also be contending in Riyadh. Until then, on to links!

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This week in women’s tennis

Belinda Bencic captured her tenth WTA singles title in the city where she won Olympic gold. The Swiss won the Toray Pan Pacific Open over Linda Noskova, while Timea Babos and Luisa Stefani defeated Anna Danilina and Alexsandra Krunic to win the doubles crown.

At the Guangzhou Open, Ann Li won her first singles title in four years with a victory over Lulu Sun in the championship. The doubles title was captured by Katarzyna Piter and Janice Tjen, who overcame Eduice Chong of Hong Kong and Liang En-shuo in a match tiebreaker.

Cici Bellis was breaking records as a teenager before arm injuries forced a premature retirement. Now, while many of her peers are contending for titles, she’s making waves in venture capital.

Though newly retired, Caroline Garcia opened up on her podcast about what held her back from breaking through at the majors.

Reese Brantemeier’s lawsuit against the NCAA regarding player tournament winnings is still quite a bit away.

Congratulations to Jasmine Paolini, who will be an Olympic torchbearer for next year’s Winter Games in Milan0-Cortina.

Some entries for 2026 have been announced with Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Madison Keys sharing their plans Down Under, while Jessica Pegula is already going to kick off her clay court campaign in Charleston.

Iga Swiatek is the WTA’s biggest Swiftie and the Pole got a special present from Taylor Swift herself.

With technology continuing to threaten the jobs of line umpires, how can you break through today?

Tweet of the Week

Congrats, Petra!

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Five at The IX: Toray Pan Pacific Open

“The last time I won here was the Tokyo Olympics when it was an empty stadium, so it was a completely different atmosphere, but it was great to play in front of you guys. I love to play in Japan, so I’m super happy to finally win this tournament.” – Belinda Bencic

“I’m feeling a little bit tired of course, but I’m ready to make a last push. I’m very happy with the last week, and I’m trying to bring everything from last week into here.” – Elena Rybakina

“I had a really great week and had a lot of fun playing on this court. When I was walking back out (today), I had the same feeling. It brought me some nostalgia, and I felt really happy to be here. To play on center court is always really nice.” – Victoria Mboko

“I had pressure coming into the tournament because I had finals points falling off…But luckily I was able to defend it, more or less — I definitely feel more at peace. Of course, I waited til the last second to catch up, but it’s OK!” – Sofia Kenin

“She fights so, so hard, and she’s super aggressive. So, I’m just glad I was able to stay positive, at least for the most part, and of course, the cheers from the crowd really helped me, so arigato for cheering me on.” – Leylah Fernandez