WTA year in review: What was the best tournament of 2025?

The 2025 season is in the books, and it was one for the ages. In a remarkable display of parity and depth, five different players won the four majors and the WTA Finals title.

The swings all told their own unique stories, from the hard courts to the clay to the grass and back to the hard courts, culminating with a memorable week in Riyadh.

With the offseason officially underway, we're looking back at the top moments, best matches, biggest surprises and more from the year that was. 

More year-end content: Biggest surprise of 2025 | Most memorable moment of 2025

Today we're making our picks for the best tournament of 2025, from the beginning of the season in Australia to the thrilling conclusion in Saudi Arabia.

Brad Kallet: There's nothing quite like the Australian Open. The anticipation of a new season. The energy and optimism. The uniquely Australian vibe. And the 2025 Aussie Open delivered. Madison Keys came from a set down to upset Iga Swiatek in the semifinals, winning a 10-8 third-set tiebreak to advance to the final, then followed that up with another three-set win over World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to claim her first major. It was the moment of Keys' career, and set the tone for an unpredictable and fascinating 2025 season. 

Matt Wilansky: When you’re sizing up the event of the year, two stand apart. The Australian Open set the tone early -- nonstop shotmaking, 5,689 winners (most of any event in 2025) and 45 three-setters (also a tour high). But the WTA Finals get the nod. Call it recency bias if you want, but it really does feel like a weeklong all-star game, only with consequences. Superstar vs. superstar from the jump. Every match loaded. Every night delivering. The players lean in, the tension builds and the stakes remain high. Add the record payout on top of all that, and the finale simply had more gravity than anything else this season. 

Noah Poser: It would be really easy to go with any of the four majors, as each had its fair share of incredible matches and defining moments. But it was at the Omnium Banque Nationale where the WTA shined brightest in 2025.

The tennis was outshined only by the storylines the tournament produced. You had the run of Aoi Ito to the third round. (She started the event ranked outside the top 1000 before producing one of the year’s most stunning upsets over Jasmine Paolini.) Then there was Eugenie Bouchard extending her career by one match with a first-round win in Montreal, her hometown, before retiring. We saw a return to form from Naomi Osaka, who reached the final before losing in three sets to Victoria Mboko.

Mboko, just 18 and ranked No. 85 in the world, winning her first-ever WTA title was the biggest story. It was even more notable because it included victories over four Grand Slam champions (Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Osaka), and was on home soil. Simply storybook stuff.

Oh, and her match against Rybakina? Arguably the most suspenseful of 2025.

Alex Macpherson: Playing in the qualifying tournament at Wimbledon, the penultimate event of her career, Alizé Cornet called it "a fight in a field," referring to how it stripped the sport back to its purest essence. That's why she considered it her most appropriate final chapter, and that's why it's the most exciting tournament. There are no bells and whistles, no flashy camera angles, no manufactured hype and no overwhelming spectacle.

Instead, there's hunger, desperation, livelihoods on the line and the extremes of emotion. I'm not going to forget Iva Jovic's barnburner against Linda Klimovicova any time soon, nor Victoria Mboko squandering five match points against Priscilla Hon (the last three-setter she's lost). Nor, for that matter, Kaja Juvan's joy at returning to a Grand Slam main draw after losing a year to injury. This is the heart of tennis.

Greg Garber: I’m going with Wimbledon, but not just because I was there. During the middle of the tournament, me and our website editor found ourselves out on Court 16, where Swiatek was practicing. She was thumping the ball and we both wondered if that aggressive mindset would carry over to her matches. It did, and she went on to win the title. Amanda Anisimova, who beat Sabalenka in the semifinals, also had a personal breakthrough. I’ll give her a pass on that scoreless final.

Cole Bambini: A Cinderella run in your home country always enhances the tournament atmosphere. At Roland Garros, then-ranked No. 361 Lois Boisson, in her Grand Slam main-draw debut, was the first Frenchwoman to reach the semifinals of the major since Marion Bartoli in 2011, and became the first wild card to do so. Ultimately, Gauff won her second Grand Slam, defeating Sabalenka in a three-set thriller.