Sabalenka receives the Chris Evert WTA World No.1 trophy

On November 1st local time, the 2025 Riyadh WTA Finals commenced its opening day, featuring singles contests in the Serena Williams group and doubles matches in the Navratilova group. Prior to the start of play, the WTA year-end World No.1 award ceremony took place, with reigning No.1 Sabalenka receiving the Chris Evert WTA World No.1 trophy.

Sabalenka is awarded the World No.1 trophy

This marks Sabalenka’s second consecutive year crowned as the WTA year-end World No.1. Tennis legends Muguruza and Halep attended as guests to witness the trophy presentation in person. This season, Sabalenka has captured four WTA Tour titles including the US Open, finished runner-up at the Australian Open and French Open, and held a 59-11 win-loss record before the finals began. Notably, Sabalenka maintained the No.1 ranking throughout the entire year, becoming the seventh woman in the Open Era and the third in the 21st century (following Serena Williams in 2014-2015 and Barty in 2020-2021) to achieve this feat.

Players who have held the WTA year-end No.1 ranking throughout a full season in the Open Era

• Evert (1977, 1981)

• Navratilova (1983-1984, 1986)

• Graf (1988-1990, 1994, 1996)

• Seles (1992)

• Serena Williams (2014-2015)

• Barty (2020-2021)

• Sabalenka (2025)

At 22:00 Beijing time tonight, Sabalenka will make her debut at this year’s WTA Finals, facing the 8th seed Paolini as her first opponent; the singles match between Gauff and Pegula in the Graf group will follow immediately. Additionally, the first round of doubles in the Huber group will also begin sequentially.

(Text and editing: Dato; Photos: Visual China)