As tennis prepares for the 2026 season — which is, for once, starting in the year for which it is named — here is a spirited lookback at the past year on the WTA Tour.

It is not designed to be entirely complete, and your views on the categories in the speed run at the bottom are one of the most exciting things about such an exercise. This is in the spirit of what first springs to mind, in a banner year for women’s tennis that set up the next one beautifully.

Best match

Charlie Eccleshare, Matthew Futterman: Madison Keys (19) vs. Iga Świątek (2), Australian Open semifinal

Eccleshare: It could have been her final win against Aryna Sabalenka, but just pipping it is Madison Keys’ Australian Open semifinal win over Iga Świątek.

When Świątek went from 5-2 up to 5-5, but still won the first set, it looked as though this was going to be another hard-luck story for Keys, who had never won the Grand Slam title that was supposedly her destiny.

It looked that way again in the third set, when Świątek held a match point on her own serve. But back came Keys, as she did in the ensuing tiebreak after Świątek moved to within two points of victory after a stupendous volley on the stretch, that time winning three points in a row to clinch victory.

Futterman: The Australian Open women’s semifinal, Madison Keys over Iga Świątek in a deciding tiebreak. A match point saved. The outcome uncertain until the final ball. A player winning a monumental match on her way to fulfilling a life mission. All of it done and dusted in a two-hour-and-35-minute knot of tension.

James Hansen: Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs. Marta Kostyuk(24), Madrid Open quarterfinal

Two tiebreaks. Kostyuk getting so close yet so far, as she has tended to do against Sabalenka of late. The drama of the rain, Sabalenka refusing to serve because she was worried about double-faulting and Kostyuk asking how the chair umpire allowed her to get away with that. The way Sabalenka held her nerve once they resumed.

Favorite match

Eccleshare: Elena Rybakina (12) vs. Iga Świątek (5), French Open round of 16

Świątek’s getting the better of Elena Rybakina in their fourth-round match at French Open was absorbing from start to finish. Rybakina won eight of the first nine games against the three-time defending champion and looked as though she was about to post a statement win.

But Świątek then offered a reminder of why she hadn’t lost a match at Roland Garros for four years, digging in to eventually pinch it 7-5 in the third. The stars of the WTA Tour have not played each other often enough at majors the past few years, but 2025 corrected that to a degree.

Futterman: Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs. Coco Gauff (2), French Open final

There’s something about watching two players battling each other, their own brains, and some seriously gusty winds all at once. And then Gauff trying to serve out the match, dumping 6o mph serves just over the net that somehow were good enough to scramble Sabalenka’s already scrambled brain just a little bit more.

That led to the ultimate sour-grapes news conference from Sabalenka, which Gauff deconstructed in her own news conference. A perfect end to a wild and wildly entertaining afternoon in Paris.

Hansen: Maya Joint vs. Alexandra Eala (Q), Eastbourne Open final

Two rising talents in a tournament final, match points saved, and a deciding tiebreak that saw both of them raise their level as it ebbed and flowed.

Most memorable shot

Eccleshare: Karolína Muchová vs. Clara Tauson, Dubai Tennis Championships semifinal

Matt does not remember shots.

Hansen: Madison Keys (19) vs. Aryna Sabalenka (1), Australian Open final

This forehand from Keys is not really the best shot of the year, but I’m picking it as memorable because it falls into my favorite category of tennis shot: “Looks normal to the casual eye, is in fact not of this planet.”

Story of the year

Eccleshare: Amanda Anisimova’s season was pretty special, but beating Świątek in the U.S. Open quarterfinal, less than two months after losing 6-0, 6-0 to the same player in the Wimbledon final, was truly extraordinary.

The redemption story is an overused sporting cliché, but this was nothing less than a signal example, and the energy on Arthur Ashe Stadium that day matched the scale of what Anisimova had just achieved.

Futterman: Has to be Anisimova. She goes from outside the top 300, and losing in Wimbledon qualifying, to the finals of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open finals, and cracks the top five in the process.

Throw in that she stopped playing for six months in 2023 to rebalance her relationship with the sport and it makes for one incredible story.

Hansen: The cohort of players who burst into the wider tennis consciousness, and in so doing, became advertisements for the depth and importance of the lower rungs of professional tennis. Victoria Mboko, Alexandra Eala, Tereza Valentová and Janice Tjen all did incredible things, from Eala’s stunning Miami Open run to Mboko’s Canadian Open title. What set them all up for success was absurd winning records on the World Tennis Tour, proving once again that winning can become a habit at any level.

Strangest moment

Eccleshare: Fans at Wimbledon having to be told by the umpire not to open champagne bottles when a player is about to serve during Anisimova’s match against Dalma Gálfi. The strangest thing about it being that, for Wimbledon, it’s actually not that strange a request.

Futterman: During the Canadian Open final, Naomi Osaka was on her way to her first title in forever. Then she froze up early in the second set, and Mboko, teenager and home-crowd hero, rode the emotions of her supporters — and her run to the final in which she had beaten three Grand Slam champions — to take down a fourth and consign Osaka to the runners-up spot in the process.

Hansen: Maria Sakkari and Yulia Putintseva’s furious, swearing-laden “handshake” at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany.

Worst moment

Eccleshare: Jelena Ostapenko accusing Taylor Townsend of having “no education” after losing to the American in the second round of the U.S. Open. Ostapenko showed little initial contrition and doubled down on her comments on social media before belatedly apologizing — while failing to mention Townsend in that apology.

The incident fundamentally altered Ostapenko’s standing in the sport.

Futterman: Mirra Andreeva screaming at her mother during her French Open combustion against Loïs Boisson, which proved to be the first of several difficult matches for the teenager as she adjusts to the pressures of being a favorite.

Hansen: The succession of moments involving WTA Tour players reporting stalking and harassment, an issue which remains intrinsic to tennis and is one of the biggest challenges for the sport.

Best quote

Eccleshare: “Am I a good liar? Oh my God, I couldn’t play poker.” — Świątek, in a news conference at the French Open.

Before she met Rybakina in Paris, Świątek didn’t know whether she would play her or Ostapenko, Świątek’s tennis nemesis who has beaten her six times out of six. When asked who she would prefer to play, Świątek tried to keep a straight face while saying that she didn’t have a preference about who she faced. She couldn’t do it for long.

pic.twitter.com/MFMR2EY6Jl

— 1GA Daily (@shetookthem) May 30, 2025

Futterman: “I would like to thank me.” — Andreeva, after winning the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Hansen: “I’m sitting here.” — Gauff, when asked about Sabalenka’s claim that another player would have beaten her in the French Open final.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Tennis, Women's Tennis

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