We look at the season so far for the top eight WTA players this year ahead of the climax to the season arriving in November in the shape of the WTA Finals in Riyadh, live on Sky Sports Tennis.
Between November 2 and 9 the top eight women’s players in the world will face off in Saudi Arabia, looking to end their seasons on a high.
Poland’s Iga Swiatek, Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka, Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, USA duo Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, China’s Zheng Qinwen and Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova have each qualified.
We take a look at each of their seasons so far…
The reigning WTA Finals champion is Poland’s Swiatek, and she has enjoyed another stellar year, but in terms of Grand Slam titles has only the French Open to show for her efforts in 2024.
The 23-year-old proved utterly dominant on clay again, defeating Paolini 6-2 6-1 in the French capital for her third Roland Garros championship win in succession.
Swiatek could not repeat the trick at the same venue for the Paris Olympic Games in August, however, suffering a shock semi-final defeat to Qinwen, marking her first loss in Paris after 1149 days of staying undefeated. Swiatek would go on to win the bronze medal.
Otherwise this year, Swiatek impressively clinched four WTA 1000 titles, winning at the Qatar Open, Indian Wells, Madrid Open and Italian Open.
Highlights of the Madrid Open WTA final between Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka
Highlights of Swiatek against Sabalenka from the Rome final
In terms of her performance at the other three Grand Slams, Swiatek suffered third-round exits at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and a quarter-final loss at the US Open.
In the final of the 2023 WTA Finals in Cancun, Swiatek dominated Pegula 6-1 6-0 to win and regain her world No 1 ranking from Sabalenka. The Pole went 5-0 at the WTA tour’s season-closing championship, winning all 10 sets she played and ceding a total of just 20 games.
Such form was the fewest by the tournament’s winner since 2003, when it returned to a round-robin format. The previous low in that time was the 34 games dropped by Justine Henin in 2007.
Sabalenka has enjoyed a hugely productive season to date, clinching two of the four Grand Slam titles on offer.
The 26-year-old beat Qinwen for her second successive Australian Open title in January, and more recently beat Pegula to land her maiden US Open title in September.
Sabalenka battled past Jessica Pegula in straight sets as she won the US Open for the first time in her career
Elsewhere in 2024, Sabalenka also clinched two WTA 1000 titles in the form of the Cincinnati Open and Wuhan Open, losing a further two finals – both to Swiatek – at the Madrid Open and Italian Open.
Martina Navratilova believes US Open champion Sabalenka is capable of usurping Swiatek as world No 1
Sabalenka was forced to pull out of Wimbledon this year due to a shoulder injury picked up in Berlin, with the injury also causing her to miss the Olympic Games.
She was knocked out of the French Open at the quarter-final stage by Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva.
Highlights of the Wuhan Open final match between Sabalenka and Zheng Qinwen
Sabalenka has made the final of the WTA Finals once before in 2022, losing to France’s Caroline Garcia.
Despite being 28 years old, 2024 was a real breakout campaign for Italian Paolini as she made two Grand Slam finals having previously only made the second round of any, and secured her first WTA 1000 title.
Paolini broke new ground by making the fourth round of the Australian Open in January, and then made the finals of both the French Open and Wimbledon later in the year, finishing as runner-up to Swiatek and Krejcikova respectively.
In February, Paolini came from a set down to beat Anna Kalinskaya and clinch the Dubai Championships (WTA 1000).
She made the fourth round of the US Open too, losing to the Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova.
China’s 22-year-old Qinwen is another tennis star to have made a breakthrough campaign, clinching a stunning Olympic Games gold in Paris by beating Croatia’s Donna Vekic in straight sets.
Qinwen beat Emma Navarro, Angelique Kerber – coming from a set down to beat both – and Swiatek en route to the final at Roland Garros.
Back in January, Qinwen also made her very first Grand Slam final, going down to Sabalenka at the Australian Open.
In the year’s other Grand Slams, Qinwen was knocked out in the Wimbledon first round and French Open third round, but did put together a run to the US Open quarter-finals.
A maiden WTA 1000 title still alludes Qinwen, but she did recently make her first final at the Wuhan Open, losing to Sabalenka.
The shock Grand Slam result of the season saw the Czech Republic’s Krejcikova clinch her first-ever Wimbledon title, and only the second Grand Slam of her career following the 2021 French Open.
Otherwise in 2024, the 28-year-old made the Australian Open quarter-finals, but suffered disappointing early exits at Roland Garros (first round) and the US Open (second round). She also made the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics.
Krejcikova qualifies despite sitting in the No 12 position on the Race to the WTA Finals leaderboard. She secured her place in Riyadh as the highest ranked Grand Slam singles champion finishing between No 8-20 on the leaderboard.
This is the first year such a scenario is a qualification rule for the WTA, and it’s the USA’s Emma Navarro – sat eighth in the Race to the WTA Finals list – who is the unlucky one to miss out.
The USA’s Pegula broke new personal ground this year by making a Grand Slam final for the very first time in her career, losing to Sabalenka in the US Open on home soil last month.
The 30-year-old also tasted WTA 1000 success in the shape of defending her Canadian Open title (her third WTA 1000 success), beating Amanda Anisimova in the final.
Pegula also made the Cincinnati Open final, where Sabalenka again proved too tough an opponent.
The other three Grand Slams proved disappointing for Pegula earlier in the year, as she was knocked out at the second round of both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and was forced to withdraw from the French Open due to neck and back injuries.
Pegula showed her quality to make the final of the WTA Finals last season, but went down heavily to Swiatek.
It’s hard to believe the USA’s Gauff is still only 20 years old, but having tasted US Open title success in 2023, she fell in the fourth round in her defence this year.
Elsewhere, Gauff did put together runs to the Australian Open and French Open semi-finals, while she lost in the fourth round at Wimbledon too.
She picked up the second WTA 1000 title of her career by winning the China Open in 2024, making a further three WTA 1000 semi-finals.
Highlights of the China Open final between Karolina Muchova and Gauff
The 2022 Wimbledon champion, Kazakhstan’s Rybakina is the only player on the WTA Finals list of eight who did not win either a Grand Slam or WTA 1000 title this year – with the exception being Qinwen Zheng, who secured Olympic gold.
Rybakina made it to the semi-finals at Wimbledon, and was favourite from that position to go on and clinch her second Grand Slam success, but was surprisingly beaten by eventual winner Krejcikova.
Elsewhere, the 25-year-old was forced to pull out of the US Open due to a lower back injury, was beaten by Paolini in the French Open quarter-finals, and suffered a second round exit at the Australian Open.
Rybakina made two WTA 1000 finals in 2024, losing at the Qatar Open to Swiatek and Miami Open to American Danielle Collins.
Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh will host the WTA Finals for the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 tournaments.
The women’s professional tennis tour announced the three-year deal will see prize money for this November’s tournament raised to $15.25m (£12m), a 70-per-cent increase from 2023.
Previous hosts were Cancun (2023), Fort Worth (2022), Guadalajara (2021), Shenzhen (2019), Singapore (2014-2018), Istanbul (2011-2013), Doha (2008-2010), Madrid (2006-2007), Los Angeles (2002-2005, 1974-1976), Munich (2001), New York (1979-2000, 1977), Oakland (1978), Boca Raton (1972-1973).
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