Aryna Sabalenka saw her 2025 end in disappointment as she lost the final of the WTA Finals to Elena Rybakina.
Having held the number one spot in world tennis for the last two years, she came into the match as the heavy favourite, but things didn’t stay true to form.
Sabalenka vented her frustration after losing to Rybakina, and now she will sit down with her team and come up with a plan of attack for next year.
Sabalenka issues a pretty relaxed statement after losing her latest final and it’s still been a decent season for the Belarussian even if she might have craved more.
One pundit, however, thinks Sabalenka might actually be somewhat distressed at how her season has panned out, with a number of defeats coming when it comes to the nitty-gritty and actually lifting the title.
What Rennae Stubbs has said about Aryna Sabalenka
Sabalenka has been the world number one for two successive years and managed to win a Grand Slam in 2025 – yet Rennae Stubbs doesn’t think she will be overly happy with her year on the whole.
Sabalenka lost in the final of the Australian Open and French Open, whilst she lost to Amanda Anisimova in the semifinal of Wimbledon.
Stubbs thinks naturally it’s great what she’s doing but she said on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast that she will have hoped for more from 2025.
She said: “What I will say, Aryna Sabalenka, another fantastic year, finishes world number one, and it’s a long time since someone has done that back-to-back, but I would venture to say that she would say that it’s been a great year, but not quite been the year that she would have hoped for.
“That’s an amazing thing to say when you reach as many finals as she has as the pinnacle as in world number one two years in a row, like the consistency she showed this year was outrageously good but having only won one major title, the US Open, I would say that she would say that this year is a little bit of a failure.
“I mean that in the nicest way, because she’s been so consistent, I think that she would be disappointed to lose in the final of the Australian Open, to lose in the final of the French Open and then to lose in the final of the WTA Finals.
“Her and her team will be so disappointed not to get more major titles this year, I really do think she would say that.”
What Aryna Sabalenka has achieved in 2025
- Australian Open – F
- French Open – F
- Wimbledon – SF
- US Open – W
- Qatar Open – R2
- Dubai Championships – R3
- Indian Wells – F
- Miami Open – W
- Madrid Open – W
- Italian Open – QF
- Canadian Open – Didn’t play
- Cincinnati Open – QF
- China Open – Didn’t play
- Wuhan Open – SF
- WTA Finals – F
Sabalenka facing a bit of a problem going into 2026
Sabalenka rarely goes out early in the big tournaments as as a result, there is no real reason to panic, but there are some problems brewing.
The world number one does seem to have a knack of losing in finals and that does make life very frustrating for Sabalenka in her quest for total dominance when it comes to winning tournaments.
There is a sense that sometimes when she’s on the court, Sabalenka is perhaps trying too hard and that is definitely something for her to have a look at.
As the best player in the world, the demands she places on herself will be sky high and the challenge next year is to maintain her position and also get over the line in more finals than she is doing right now.
Stubbs does make a great point and given how much of a perfectionist she is, there is every sense that perhaps she isn’t happy with certain things that have happened this year.
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