Women’s tennis has entertained fans around the world in 2025, as the stars of the WTA Tour continue to impress.
Kicking off the year, Madison Keys won the Australian Open title, defeating Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka in back-to-back matches.
Then at the French Open, Sabalenka lost another Grand Slam final when Coco Gauff clinched the second major title of her career.
At Wimbledon, Swiatek bounced back from a tough start to the year by winning the title, taking her Grand Slam tally to six.
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To finish the Grand Slam season, Sabalenka won the US Open, ensuring she didn’t go without a major in 2025.
The stars of women’s tennis often steal the spotlight, although that’s not to say the lower-ranked players on tour don’t have a part to play in the growth of the game…
Marta Kostyuk’s coach says watching lower-ranked players cause upsets is a ‘beautiful thing’
Appearing as a guest on the ‘Inside-In’ podcast, Marta Kostyuk’s coach, Sandra Zaniewska, gave her verdict on the depth of quality on the WTA Tour.
“I think it’s such a great thing for the sport because it makes everyone better,” she said.
“Honestly, we need that. I think everyone knows what they need to do on the women’s side in order to get better and to play better.
“But there are so many players that are 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and they can beat top 15 players. It happens often.
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“I think that’s a beautiful thing for the sport because it makes it more interesting.”
Every player ranked inside the WTA top ten has lost to a player ranked outside the world’s top 80 this year.
RankNameLowest-ranked defeatOpponent’s rankDefeats to non-top 100 players1Aryna SabalenkaMarketa Vondrousova (Berlin SF)16412Iga SwiatekAlexandra Eala (Miami Open QF)14013Coco GauffVictoria Mboko (Montreal R16)8504Amanda AnisimovaChloe Paquet (Paris 125 QF)13815Mirra AndreevaLois Boisson (French Open QF)36126Madison KeysMarketa Vondrousova (Berlin R32)16437Jessica PegulaAnastasija Sevastova (Montreal R32)38638Jasmine PaoliniAoi Ito (Montreal R64)11019Qinwen ZhengLaura Siegemund (Australian Open R64)97010Elena RybakinaBelinda Bencic (Abu Dhabi SF)1572Worst defeats of the WTA top ten in 2025
In comparison, the best players in men’s tennis haven’t endured as many shock defeats in 2025.
RankNameLowest-ranked defeatOpponent’s rankDefeats to non-top 100 players1Carlos AlcarazDavid Goffin (Miami Open R64)5502Jannik SinnerAlexander Bublik (Halle R16)4503Alexander ZverevFrancisco Comesana (Rio QF)8604Novak DjokovicReilly Opelka (Brisbane QF)29315Taylor FritzTerence Atmane (Cincinnati R16)13616Ben SheltonColeman Wong (Miami Open R64)18217Jack DraperMarin Cilic (Wimbledon R64)8308Alex de MinaurMarin Cilic (Dubai R32)18719Lorenzo MusettiNikoloz Basilashvili (Wimbledon R128)126110Karen KhachanovSebastian Ofner (Geneva QF)1282Worst defeats of the ATP top ten in 2025
Whether that is a good thing for the ATP Tour or not is up for debate, but there’s certainly an argument to suggest that you’re more likely to be surprised when watching women’s tennis.
Zaniewska came close to guiding her player, Kostyuk, to a big upset earlier this year, when she took on the world number one at the Madrid Open.
Sandra Zaniewska gives her verdict on Marta Kostyuk vs Aryna Sabalenka
Facing off for a place in the Madrid Open semifinals, Kostyuk didn’t give her Belarusian opponent an inch.
Playing some of the best tennis of her career, Kostyuk earned herself a set point but failed to convert, before Sabalenka stole the set in a tiebreaker.
Sabalenka clinched the set 7-4 in the breaker as she moved one step closer to the last four.
Not prepared to go down without a fight, Kostyuk pushed Sabalenka to another breaker and led 5-4 when controversy struck.
The world number one asked the umpire to stop play due to the rain, a move that incensed her Ukrainian opponent.
Kostyuk proceeded to lose the set and the match, although Zaniewska was impressed with how she handled the situation.
“Honestly, I would say at that moment, great job to Marta, she could have been obsessing over it, but it was really not needed at that moment, and she really just let it go in an instant, so that was great,” she said.
Zaniewska admitted that losing the match was tough but insisted there were positives to take from the defeat.
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“The match with Sabalenka in Madrid, honestly, it was tough, because Marta had set points in both sets, and you feel like, oh god, if she had just won one more point in each set, the match would have been hers.
“You ask yourself those questions, what if she won, maybe she would have won the tournament, maybe the tournament could have changed so much.
“At the end of the day, you have to brush it off; it’s probably better to lose 7-6, 7-6 to number one in the world than to lose to even the number five or the number ten.”
Zaniewska would no doubt love to see Kostyuk pick up some more big wins this week, when she competes at the Billie Jean King Cup for Ukraine.
Ukraine will play Spain in the Billie Jean King Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday, September 17.