WTA Player of the Year Countdown, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka
Half of our panel voted the Belarusian No. 1; given her remarkable season, you can understand why.
2023 By The Numbers
- 55-14: Overall win-loss record
- 23-3: Grand Slam win-loss record (AO š, RG SF, W SF, USO F)
- 3: Titles (Adelaide, Australian Open, Madrid)
- 3: Runner-ups (Stuttgart, Indian Wells, US Open)
- 40: Voting points in WTA Player of the Year Countdown (See "The Voters' Thoughts" below for more.)
- 404: Aces, most in a season since 2018 (the year Sabalenka entered the Top 15)
- 285: Double faults, fewest in a season since 2018, excluding the Covid-truncated 2020 season
- 61 and 72.9: First-serve percentage, and percentage of first-serve points won, both most since 2020
- 49.3: Percentage of second-serve points won, most since 2018
- 80.8: Percentage of service games won, most since 2018
Tracy's Take
Weāve long known about Aryna Sabalenkaās physical power and tennis skills. But this year was her big mental breakthrough.
From winning the Australian Open to reaching No. 1 in the rankings, Aryna played excellent tennis all year long. I think the big step came when she announced that sheād stopped working with a sports psychologist before the Australian Open. She realized that she needed to take more responsibility for everything from her mental attitude to refining her serve technique.
I was so impressed by how well she handled the pressure of the Australian Open final and stayed so calm. Aryna double-faulted on the first point of the match. Given her past serving challenges, that got the crowd murmuring. Although Aryna served six more double faults that night, she also hit 17 aces and won the match. And she backed it up with superb results at the other majorsāsemis at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, finals at the US Open. What a great year she had.āTracy Austin, Hall of Famer and former No. 1
The Voters' Thoughts
š Ten voters from the TENNIS.com editorial team each selected five players for our 2023 WTA Player of the Year vote. Each voters' first-place selection was worth 5 points, second-place vote 4 points, and so forth. Selected commentary from voters will be included in each 2023 WTA Player of the Year write-up.
š šĀ Each of the voters below gave Sabalenka a first-place vote.
I believe we will look back on the 2023 season as one where Sabalenka finally made good on her vast and obvious potential, not only achieving career milestones by becoming a Grand Slam champion and world No. 1, but also deepened a rivalry with Iga Swiatek that will hopefully entertain us for years to come.āDavid Kane
She was 1-2 against Swiatek this season, and was on the wrong side of those numbers in the year-end rankings too. But a major breakthrough in Melbourne, and semifinal-or-better showings at every Slam puts Sabalenka over the top in my assessment.āEd McGrogan
Sabalenka was the best at the Slams, and the best across surfaces; aside from a trashed racquet, she took her tough losses in admirable stride.āSteve Tignor
By slaying her nerve demons at the Australian Open and reaching No. 1, Sabalenka changed the narrative of her career. As the only player to make the semis of all four Slams, she displayed the highest level of excellence and consistency.āMegan Fernandez
Respect for achieving the Grand Slam dream, and for bringing her off-court personality to light. Because Sabalenka's game style and personality on the court is very aggressive, she doesnāt always come across as personable. With her groundbreaking career achievements, weāre getting to know her betterāand can root for her all the more.āLiya Davidov