It is now that point of the tennis season when awards are being handed out, but not everyone is happy about the winners.
Some big names have already missed out on awards, including Jannik Sinner beating Carlos Alcaraz to one.
Joao Fonseca was also snubbed for an award, and now it was the WTA Tour’s turn to hand out some awards.
Aryna Sabalenka received the award for WTA Player of the Year, but there has been a huge reaction to the Match of the Year announcement.
Tennis fans react after Coco Gauff wins WTA Match of the Year Award
The WTA have announced that the Match of the Year award, which is voted for by the fans, has been given to the Italian Open semifinal between Coco Gauff and Qinwen Zheng.
Gauff beat Zheng in Rome, 7–6(3) 4–6 7–6(4), in a match that lasted three hours and 32 minutes, which finished after midnight at the Italian Open earlier this year.
While this match was definitely not short of drama, it also saw a combined 156 unforced errors, with 82 coming from the match winner, Gauff.
What is your match of the year from the 2025 WTA season?
Although this award was voted for by the fans, many others have taken to social media to express their confusion at this announcement.
One fan wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “This has to be a joke (followed by three laughing face emojis).”
Another also expressed their disbelief, “When this match completed….I commented as a joke that this will be named match of the year (laughing face emojis).”
Someone else said, “No words. Who would want to relive that?”
The reactions continued, “I very much question the word ‘Worthy’! There were 20 double faults in this error-strewn match.”
“It was probably the ugliest match of the season. With record-breaking unforced error stats. It should be hidden very deeply by the WTA because it was not a good advertisement for women’s tennis at all. Big downgrade to the match of the year from 2024 (Rome final).”
Someone else then suggested that the match where Madison Keys beat Iga Swiatek in the Australian Open semifinal should have received the award instead.
They wrote, “Match of the year was Madi vs Iga AO semi final.”
While there has been a lot of backlash for this award announcement, some people could look past the number of unforced errors.
The social media user said, “One of my favorite matches of the year! I don’t care that it was full of errors. This is a 3+ hour match on clay between 2 supreme athletes pushing each other to the limits and it was quite entertaining to watch.”
Gauff and Zheng are two of the most popular players on the WTA Tour right now, proven by the latter winning the Fan Favourite Award for a second consecutive year.
How far will Coco Gauff go at the 2026 Australian Open?
Previous winners of the WTA Match of the Year Award
Gauff’s win against Zheng at the Italian Open is the 11th winner of the WTA Match of the Year award, which has been taking place since 2013.
It is the first time either player has received this award, which has also been given to the likes of Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka.
This also marks the first year since 2019 where Swiatek has not been in the Match of the Year, with the Pole winning the award in both 2023 and 2024 for her Madrid Open finals against Sabalenka.
| Year | WTA Match of the Year | Tournament | Result |
| 2013 | Maria Sharapova vs Victoria Azarenka | French Open (SF) | Sharapova beat Azarenka, 6–1 2–6 6–4 |
| 2014 | Serena Williams vs Caroline Wozniacki | WTA Finals (SF) | Williams beat Wozniacki, 2–6, 6–3, 7–6(6) |
| 2015 | Agnieszka Radwanska vs Garbine Muguruza | WTA Finals (SF) | Radwanska beat Muguruza, 6(5)-7 6–3 7–5 |
| 2016 | Petra Kvitova vs Angelique Kerber | Wuhan Open (3R) | Kvitova beat Kerber, 6(10)-7 7–5 6–4 |
| 2017 | Caroline Garcia vs Elina Svitolina | China Open (QF) | Garcia beat Svitolina, 6(5)-7 7–5 7-6(6) |
| 2018 | Simona Halep vs Sloane Stephens | Canadian Open (F) | Halep beat Stephens, 7–6(6) 3–6 6–4 |
| 2019 | Naomi Osaka vs Bianca Andreescu | China Open (QF) | Osaka beat Andreescu, 5–7 6–3 6–4 |
| 2022 | Barbora Krejcikova vs Iga Swiatek | Ostrava Open (F) | Krejcikova beat Swiatek, 5–7 7–6(4) 6–3 |
| 2023 | Aryna Sabalenka vs Iga Swiatek | Madrid Open (F) | Sabalenka beat Swiatek, 6–3 3–6 6–3 |
| 2024 | Iga Swiatek vs Aryna Sabalenka | Madrid Open (F) | Swiatek beat Sabalenka, 7–5 4–6 7–6(7) |
| 2025 | Coco Gauff vs Qinwen Zheng | Italian Open (SF) | Gauff beat Zheng, 7–6(3) 4–6 7–6(4) |
Although this award has divided opinion, Gauff has certainly provided a lot of entertainment this year.
Gauff will begin her 2026 season at the United Cup and will look to provide even more drama, while Zheng will make her return at the Australian Open after struggling with an elbow injury.
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