Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka have endured nightmare returns to tennis from the Australian Open, with both suffering early Qatar Open exits.
Sabalenka lost her 2025 Qatar Open round of 32 clash with Ekaterina Alexandrova, while Gauff fell at the same stage to Marta Kostyuk.
Iga Swiatek meanwhile beat Maria Sakkari in their round of 32 meeting, with the Pole having won the Qatar Open in the last three years.
Sabalenka, Swiatek and Gauff occupy the top three places respectively in the WTA rankings, but it was Madison Keys who triumphed at the Australian Open.
Keys has risen to sixth in the rankings following her success, having beaten both Sabalenka and Swiatek en route to the trophy.
Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka feature in record-breaking 2024 WTA Finals
But it was her fellow American Gauff who stole the limelight at the 2024 WTA Finals, where she clinched the title with a final win over Qinwen Zheng.
Like Keys in Melbourne, Gauff beat Sabalenka and Swiatek in Riyadh, with that trio all helping break a WTA record with their appearance at the event in November.
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As per the WTA website, the WTA’s cumulative global audience rose by 10% in 2024 to a record 1.1 billion on broadcast and streaming platforms worldwide, having broken the 1 billion barrier for the first time in 2023.
And it was the WTA Finals that attracted the biggest audience of any year-end finals in the tour’s history, with its global audience of 78 million a 160% rise from the previous year.
WTA enjoys huge on-site attendance and social media growth in 2024
Sabalenka and Swiatek certainly created plenty of intrigue throughout the 2024 WTA season, with the pair having played out a fantastic battle for the year-end number one spot.
And after leading the way for much of the season, Swiatek was eventually overtaken by Sabalenka right at the very last.
The Belarusian clinched both the Australian Open and US Open titles in a fantastic season, with the Pole continuing her French Open dominance.
It was, however, Gauff who rightfully stole the headlines in Riyadh, storming her way to a first year-end title.
Such displays also undoubtedly played a key role in attracting fans to events, with the WTA adding that on-site attendance increased by 15% to 3.5 million in 2024.
And there was also a welcome growth in terms of social media engagement, with followers on the WTA’s official channels rising 25% to 6.4 million.
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