Sabalenka joined Serena Williams and Iga Swiatek as back-to-back winners of the honour over the past 25 years.
Sabalenka, a 27-year-old from Belarus, led women's tennis in match victories (63-12), titles (four), finals reached (nine) in 2025 and set a tour record by earning $US15 million ($A23 million) in prize money.
At the majors, she was runner-up to Madison Keys at the Australian Open in January and to Coco Gauff at the French Open in June, made it to the semi-finals at Wimbledon in July before losing to Amanda Anisimova. Sabalenka collected her fourth career grand slam singles trophy with a successful title defence at the US Open in September, defeating Anisimova in the final.
Anisimova was selected as Most Improved Player on Monday after making it to her first two grand slam finals at the All England Club — where she was the runner-up to Swiatek — and Flushing Meadows. She reached three other deciders, including claiming WTA 1000 titles in Doha and Beijing.
The 24-year-old American ended 2024 at No.36 in the rankings and, after making her top-10 debut, rose all the way to No.4 at the end of this season. Anisimova also was nominated as Player of the Year.
Other award recipients included 19-year-old Canadian Vicky Mboko as Newcomer of the Year, Belinda Bencic as Comeback Player of the Year and Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend as Doubles Team of the Year.
Bencic was away from the tour for more than a year while having her first child, then won two titles in 2025 and reached the semis at Wimbledon for the first time — her first appearance in the final four of a major since 2019.
