As was the case last year, the WTA Finals will be hosted at the King Saud University Indoor Arena in Riyadh. The week-long tournament commences on Saturday, November 1st with the opening batch of round-robin matches, before a series of knockout clashes will determine the overall champions. Both singles and doubles events will take place, although these two disciplines possess their own unique qualification criteria and do not share an equal prize money allocation.
American youngster Coco Gauff is the defending singles champion, having dispatched Chinese star Zheng Qinwen in last year’s final. The 2024 doubles event was won by Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe, who have continued to develop their dynamic partnership throughout the course of the current campaign.
A brief history of the tournament
The WTA Finals were established in 1972, originally serving as the season-end decider on the Virginia Slims circuit. For the first three decades of its existence, the tournament was almost exclusively held on American soil. However, the singles and doubles events were often based at different locations throughout the 1970s, with the latter being delivered under the banner of the ‘WTA Doubles Championships’ and occasionally taking place in Japan.
After a brief opening stint in Florida and three years at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, the championships moved to New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1977, where they remained (except for the Oakland-hosted 1978 edition) until the turn of the millennium. Munich was then awarded hosting duties in 2001, before Los Angeles re-assumed this responsibility for a further five-year spell. Since then, the finals have been staged in a variety of cities from around the world, with several consecutive editions delivered at one location before moving on to the next. Riyadh was announced as the latest host city in 2024, and will continue in this role until the conclusion of next year’s event.
The most successful player in the tournament’s history is undoubtedly Martina Navratilova, who won 13 singles and 8 doubles titles over a glittering 14-year period. The Prague-born legend secured her first crown in 1977, after partnering with Betty Stöve to overcome Françoise Dürr and Virginia Wade in the doubles final. Fifteen months on from her last-ever grand slam triumph at Flushing Meadows, Navratilova scooped her 21st piece of WTA Finals silverware following another doubles success. She joined forces with American compatriot Pam Shriver to defeat Gigi Fernández and Jana Novotná in the 1991 showpiece, having celebrated her 35th birthday several weeks prior.
Competition format
The WTA Finals adopts an entirely different format from other tournaments on the WTA circuit, using a preliminary ‘group stage’ before advancing to the familiar knockout system. This current format has been used since 2003, when the finals were hosted at the Staples Center (now Crypto.com Arena) for just the second time.
The eight players in the singles championship are split into two groups of four, which are determined using a seeded draw. Each player receives a seeding in accordance with their position on the WTA leaderboard, with the highest-ranked player labelled as the number one seed. The two top seeds – Aryna Sabalenka (first) and Iga Świątek (second) – are kept apart and therefore placed into separate groups, before the same process is applied to split up third and fourth, fifth and sixth, and seventh and eighth seeds. This ensures a good competitive balance in each group, and increases the chances of the strongest players meeting in the latter stages of the tournament.
All competitors play every opponent in their group in a round robin format. The two players with the highest number of wins in each group then advance to the semi-finals, before the victors of these two matches face one another in the showpiece.
The doubles event utilises the same structure, with a seeded round robin stage preceding a semi-final and final.
Points allocations
The points allocations in the singles and doubles events follow the exact same criteria. The champions are awarded 900 points, while the runners-up receive 400 points. Each round robin win earns the victor 200 points, so there is an additional 600 points up for grabs during the preliminary group stage.
Therefore, an undefeated champion would acquire a colossal 1500 points, putting the WTA Finals just behind the four Grand Slams in terms of reward scales.
Qualification criteria
The same volume of entrants compete in the singles and doubles events, with eight individual players and eight teams participating in the tournament overall. Although there’s a substantial amount of overlap with regard to the qualification criteria for each event, there are a couple of fundamental differences.
Singles
In the singles segment, players assuming the top seven positions in the WTA points ranking automatically qualify for the WTA Finals. The eighth spot is ringfenced for the season’s highest-ranked grand slam winner, who is placed between 8th and 20th on the leaderboard. Should one of the top seven-ranked players not be able to attend the championships for any given reason, the second-highest-ranked grand slam winner (again positioned between 8th and 20th) would replace them in the line-up. If all four grand slam tournaments were won by players in the top seven, the final berth would default to the eighth-ranked competitor.
WTA points totals are a reflection of each player’s performance on the eleven-month WTA Tour. The tour consists of a series of championships staged across all six continents, which are themselves ranked according to their profile and status. The more prestigious the tournament, the higher the number of points available. There are four main categories of competition that are chiefly used to determine who qualifies for the WTA Finals. These are (in order of rank):
• Grand Slam (winner receives 2,000 WTA points)
• WTA1000 (winner receives 1,000 WTA points)
• WTA500 (winner receives 500 WTA points)
• WTA250 (winner receives 250 WTA points)
N.B. Please note there are also WTA125 and ITF competitions, but these are considered to be of a notably lower standard than those referenced above.
A player’s overall score is worked out by adding together their points tallies from a carefully selected group of 18 tournaments, with performances in the four Grand Slams and ten WTA1000s given a stronger weighting than others. Although those who compete in at least 18 tournaments have a better chance of accumulating the necessary points, players need only enter eight WTA Tour events in order to be eligible to qualify for the WTA Finals.
Therefore, points are calculated by taking into account:
• Performance in the four Grand Slams (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open).
• Performance in six (best) of the following seven combined WTA1000 tournaments: Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome, Toronto/Montreal, Cincinnati, and Beijing
• Performance in one (best) of the following three non-combined WTA1000 tournaments: Doha, Dubai, and Wuhan
• Next best seven performances from any of the remaining tournaments, including all WTA1000, WTA500, WTA250, WTA125, and ITF events.
Doubles
In similarity to the singles event, the seven teams that have accumulated the most points on the WTA circuit progress straight through to the year-end championships, with the last qualification place also going to either a lower-ranked grand slam winner(s) or the eighth-best performing team. The doubles classification ranks each player individually, as teams regularly change during the season. For example, before landing last year’s WTA Finals doubles title with the help of familiar teammate Gabriela Dabrowski, Erin Routliffe partnered Coco Gauff in Rome and won the Cincinnati Open while competing alongside Asia Muhammad.
However, the doubles line-up for the WTA Finals is determined by how many points each team has earned throughout the campaign, not by pairing the highest-ranked competitors who have previously played together on at least one occasion. This means that lower-ranked players can qualify at the expense of those placed in higher positions, providing they’ve earned more points than their competitors have while part of one specific team. For example, Luisa Stefani will feature at this year’s WTA Finals despite currently being ranked two places below Zhang Shuai, who once again missed the cut. This is because Stefani’s partnership with Tímea Babos – who is incidentally also behind Shuai on the leaderboard – has produced more points than the Chinese star has earned with the support of any doubles teammate.
The qualification criteria for the doubles event are less complex. Rather than calculating points by combining results from a specific set of tournaments as per the system used in the singles bracket, doubles teams are measured on their best 12 performances across the entire WTA Tour campaign. That means that only a team’s highest point tallies will count towards their qualification bid, regardless of where they delivered these results. Consequently, the outcomes of all Grand Slams, WTA1000, WTA500, WTA250, WTA125, and ITF tournaments are taken into account. Therefore, although the higher-profile championships offer more points and thus provide a better platform to move up the rankings, a doubles team could theoretically qualify for the WTA Finals by winning a significant number of WTA500 championships.
Alternates
Both singles and doubles events use ‘alternates’ as a way of maintaining a full complement of participants in the event of a withdrawal. There are two alternate players in the singles bracket, and two alternate teams in the doubles bracket.
If a player/team withdraws from the WTA Finals due to injury or illness, the highest-ranked of the two alternates will take their place. Should another player/team also suffer the same fate, the second alternate steps in. Alternates are only allowed to replace players/teams during the round robin stage of the tournament, so their attendance is no longer required from the semi-finals onwards unless they have qualified for these matches. They do not inherit the record of the exited player, and therefore can only earn their place in the next round by registering a sufficient number of wins in the remaining matches.
These participants are paid an attendance fee regardless of whether or not they compete, but do not earn any further prize money if they don’t receive the opportunity to replace an injured party.
Qualified players – Singles
The following players have qualified for the 2025 WTA Finals (in order of ranking):
1. Aryna Sabalenka (N/A)*
2. Iga Świątek (Poland)
3. Coco Gauff (USA)
4. Amanda Anisimova (USA)
5. Jessica Pegula (USA)
6. Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan)
7. Madison Keys (USA)
8. Jasmine Paolini (Italy)
Reigning U.S Open champion Aryna Sabalenka was the first competitor to book her place at this season’s finals, having qualified way back in July. The Belarusian ace gained the remaining points she required at the All-England Club after reaching the semi-final stage of Wimbledon for the third time in four years.
The last player to qualify for this year’s WTA Finals was Elena Rybakina, who pipped talented teenager Mirra Andreeva to the post following a strong performance at the Pan-Pacific Open. The Kazakh big-hitter progressed to the last four in Tokyo before retiring due to injury, but had already secured the necessary points to leapfrog Andreeva into the WTA rankings’ top seven places.
As this year’s four grand slam winners all secured a top-seven position in the WTA rankings, the eighth qualification spot went to the next best-ranked player. That meant Jasmine Paolini was extended an invite, having earned just ten points fewer than seventh-placed Madison Keys.
The following players will attend the tournament as alternates:
1. Mirra Andreeva (N/A)*
2. Ekaterina Alexandrova (N/A)*
2025 Grand Slam winners: Madison Keys (Australian Open), Coco Gauff (French Open), Iga Świątek (Wimbledon), Aryna Sabalenka (U.S Open)
Qualified players – Doubles
The following doubles teams have qualified for the 2025 WTA Finals (in order of ranking):
1. Kateřina Siniaková (Czechia)/Taylor Townsend (USA)
2. Sara Errani (Italy)/Jasmine Paolini (Italy)
3. Gabriela Dabrowski (Canada)/Erin Routliffe (New Zealand)
4. Veronika Kudermetova (N/A)*/Elise Mertens (Belgium)
5. Mirra Andreeva (N/A)/Diana Shnaider (N/A)
6. Hsieh Su-wei (Chinese Taipei)/Jeļena Ostapenko (Latvia)
7. Tímea Babos (Hungary)/Luisa Stefani (Brazil)
8. Asia Muhammad (USA)/Demi Schuurs (Netherlands)
The first three doubles teams to confirm their spot at the year-end championships were Kateřina Siniaková /Taylor Townsend, Sara Errani/Jasmine Paolini, and Gabriela Dabrowski/Erin Routliffe, who all qualified following September’s São Paulo Open. The winners of that competition – Tímea Babos and Luisa Stefani – were one of the last two teams to qualify, gaining entry alongside Asia Muhammad and Demi Schuurs in late October.
The four teams that won a grand slam in 2025 all possess a top-seven ranking, so the additional qualifying berth defaults to the eighth-best team. This enabled Demi Schuurs and Asia Muhammad – who are ranked 22nd and 19th respectively in the doubles leaderboard – to advance to the finals.
The following players will attend the tournament as alternates:
1. Anna Danilina (Kazakhstan) and Aleksandra Krunić (Serbia)
2. Guo Hanyu (China) and Alexandra Panova (N/A)*
2025 Grand Slam winners: Kateřina Siniaková /Taylor Townsend (Australian Open), Sara Errani /Jasmine Paolini (French Open), Veronika Kudermetova/Elise Mertens (Wimbledon), Gabriela Dabrowski/Erin Routliffe (U.S. Open)
*Russian and Belarusian players are currently unable to compete under their national banner due to Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Prize money
The WTA Finals boasts a $15.5m prize fund, which is distributed disproportionately between its singles and doubles events. As it attracts larger audiences and therefore greater revenues, singles tennis always offers a far more lucrative source of income for elite-level players.
This eye-watering sum represents a $250,000 increase on last year’s kitty, which itself was more than $6 million higher than the 2023 reward pot. This sharp rise is largely due to the involvement of hosts Saudi Arabia, who have invested heavily in the tournament over the past two years. To put this year’s figure into further context, the prize fund was set at $5 million for the 2021 and 2022 editions of the WTA Finals.
All participants are paid an appearance fee for each round robin tie, including any alternates that enter the tournament as a consequence of a withdrawal. As previously referenced, all alternates will also receive a lump sum regardless of whether they play or not, but their appearance fees are lower than those awarded to qualified competitors. Players earn a bonus for every round robin victory, although they do not receive any additional payment for winning a semi-final match. The remainder of the cash is then ringfenced for the finals, with the champions naturally receiving a larger reward than the runners-up. The above payment structure applies to both the singles and doubles events.
The prize breakdown for the 2025 WTA Finals is yet to be announced, but we can get a reasonable steer on what this may look like by assessing last year’s cash distributions. Here’s how the $15.25m pot was carved up in 2024:
Singles
Champion: $3.77m
Runner-up: $1.27m
Round Robin win (per match): $350,000
Participation fees (qualified players): $225,000 = one match; $275,000 = two matches; $335,000 = three matches
Participation fees (alternates): $200,000 = one match; $250,000 = two matches
Attendance fee (alternates only): $140,000
Therefore, the singles champion could earn a maximum of $5.155m within this payment structure, providing they win all three round robin matches. Although last year’s winner Coco Gauff didn’t quite manage to take home this sum, the $4.8million she did earn was the highest reward a female tennis player has ever received at an individual tournament.
Doubles
Champion: $775,000
Runner-up: $255,000
Round Robin win (per match): $70,000
Participation fees (qualified players): $94,000 = one match; £116,000 = two matches; $140,000 = three matches
Participation fees (alternates): $84,000 = one match; $106,000 = two matches
Attendance fee (alternates only): $106,000
Therefore, the doubles champions could earn a maximum of $1.125m within this payment structure, providing they win all three round robin matches. Please note that any rewards given are shared between the team’s two players.