STEVE TIGNOR
🏆 Champion: Aryna Sabalenka
👀 Ones to Watch: Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova
Iga Swiatek has a WTA Finals title, Coco Gauff has one, but so far Aryna Sabalenka doesn’t. She’s been to one final, in 2022, which she improbably lost to Caroline Garcia. Sabalenka has been No. 1 for a year, but during that time she has lost as many big matches, if not more, than she has won. This tournament will be played on the hard courts she likes, and she’s in a group—with Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Jasmine Paolini—where the results will be on her racquet. A title would confirm her year-end No. 1 status. Anything else would leave doubts lingering into 2026.
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DAVID KANE
🏆 Champion: Aryna Sabalenka
👀 Ones to Watch: Iga Swiatek, Jasmine Paolini
Underestimate Jasmine Paolini at your peril. The feel good story of 2024 is back—and better than ever?—in 2025, backing up a breakthrough season with higher highs on the margins of the Grand Slam stage. Though she didn’t reach another major final, she capped a fairytale week in Rome with a comprehensive victory over Coco Gauff. She was equally ruthless only weeks ago with a drubbing of Iga Swiatek in Wuhan. Might that momentum get her out of the group stage this year?
