Two-time Grand Slam finalist Alex Corretja has predicted that Elena Rybakina will win the 2025 Australian Open and finish the season as world number 1.

Tennis great Mats Wilander disagrees with the Spaniard, arguing that Aryna Sabalenka is “much better” than Rybakina.

Sabalenka earned her first year-end top-ranked finish this season after winning four titles in 2024, including the Australian Open and US Open. The 26-year-old Belarusian is a three-time major title winner and two-time reigning Australian Open champion.

Rybakina is currently ranked fifth after winning three WTA 500 titles and reaching two WTA 1000 finals this year. She competed in 15 events, but withdrew before and during several tournaments due to health issues.

The 25-year-old Kazakh, who won her only Grand Slam title to date at Wimbledon in 2022, has hired Goran Ivanisevic as her new coach. Ivanisevic, a former Wimbledon winner and world number 2, enjoyed a hugely successful period as Novak Djokovic’s coach.

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Iga Swiatek, meanwhile, finished the season as world number 2 after winning a tour-leading five titles. His tally included a fourth French Open crown – his fifth major overall. The 23-year-old Pole finished 2022 and 2023 at the top of the WTA rankings.

Another contender for the No. 1 ranking could be 2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff, who is the world No. 3. The 20-year-old American won the season-ending WTA final in Riyadh.

Eurosport experts Wilander, Corretja, Tim Henman and Laura Robson each made their predictions ahead of the 2025 WTA season.

Who will win the Australian Open women’s title?

Wilander: Aryna Sabalenka will win another Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. That makes it three in a row.

Robson: I’m going to Sabalenka.

Henman: The AO on the women’s side will be won by Zheng (Qinwen).

Corretja: I’ll get Rybakina. I actually think she could finish #1 this year.

Who will end 2025 as women’s world number 1?

Wilander: Aryna Sabalenka is much better than Elena Rybakina, Alex.

Robson: I still think of Sabalenka.

Henman: (Iga) Swiatek will finish No. 1.

Wilander, Corretja and Robson have all backed the Rybakina-Ivanisevic combination to become the most successful coaching team of 2025.

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