WTA Finals favourite named – and it’s not Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek or Coco Gauff
The reigning world No 1 and the last two winners of the WTA Finals will be in the field at this year’s season-ending event, but a former WTA player doesn’t believe they are the favourites to win the 2025 edition.
Aryna Sabalenka has topped the WTA Rankings since the start of the year and she was the first to qualify for the showpiece tournament before 2023 champion and six-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek and reigning champion and French Open winner Coco Gauff joined her in the field.
Three other players have since added their names to the field with Amanda Anisimova, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula also set to compete in Riyadh.
There is no doubt that Sabalenka will be many people’s favourite to win the tournament as she has been one of the many standout players on the WTA Tour this year as she won the most titles (four), has reached the most finals (eight) and successfully defended her US Open crown.
Swiatek, meanwhile, has won three titles – including a maiden Wimbledon crown – and currently sits at No 2 in the rankings, Gauff won her first French Open crown and Keys made her Grand Slam breakthrough by winning the Australian Open.
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But those four players are not the favourite, according to Nicole Pratt as the former world No 35 feels Anisimova is the player to beat in Saudi Arabia.
Anisimova has had an incredible 2025 season as she won her maiden WTA 1000 trophy at the Qatar Open and then reached her maiden Slam final at Wimbledon, losing against Swiatek before finishing runner-up to Sabalenka at the US Open.
But she bounced back strongly at the recent China Open, beating the likes of Jasmine Paolini and Gauff en route to winning the title.
The 24-year-old currently sits at a career-high No 4 in the rankings behind Sabalenka, Swiatek and Gauff, but she finds herself ahead of Gauff in the WTA Race.
Anisimova’s 2025 run comes on the back of a difficult few years as she took a break from tennis in 2023 in order to look after her mental health, before returning in 2024.
Since then, she has reached milestone after milestone, and former Australian No 1 Pratt feels her mentality has been key to her rise.
“I think it’s that mental fortitude and that belief system she now has,” she told the Australian Open’s The Tennis podcast.
“That comes through consistency and that comes through winning matches. You just can’t click your fingers and it’s there, I am mentally up and about and ready for every match.”
Pratt added: “She’s enjoying, as much as she can, the lifestyle of travelling and the pressure on a day-to-day basis.
“She has to be a favourite for the WTA Finals now in my opinion, especially with the conditions.”
