In WTA tennis player news, World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens made headlines this week.
Aryna Sabalenka Pulls Out Of Canadian Open
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka was last spotted on a tennis court in her Wimbledon semifinal loss to Amanda Anisimova. Sabalenka has been very consistent this year. She has reached the semifinals or finals of the year’s three Grand Slams. She has an overwhelming lead in the WTA rankings points and is the only player who has already qualified for the end-of-year WTA Finals to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in November.
Aryna Sabalenka withdraws from Montreal due to fatigue. pic.twitter.com/sIEgmeB22q
— Michal Samulski (@MichalSamulski) July 16, 2025
This could be the reason why she is pulling out of the upcoming WTA 1000 Canadian Open hardcourt tournament beginning July 27 in Montreal. Citing fatigue, Aryna Sabalenka, the defending US Open champion, will likely play just one hardcourt tournament in Cincinnati in early August to get ready for her title defense in New York.
Sloane Stephens Wins 2025 Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award
Congrats, @SloaneStephens 💚
Sloane won the 2025 Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award!@ESPNCitizenship x @SS_FDN pic.twitter.com/KRsrGL9L0y
— wta (@WTA) July 16, 2025
To wrap the 2025 #SportsHumanitarian Awards, @SloaneStephens has been recognized as this year’s winner of the 𝙈𝙪𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙙 𝘼𝙡𝙞 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙃𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙
With her leadership, @SS_FDN, has reached 15K+ youth nationwide, creating safe, empowering… pic.twitter.com/mHUIhDWNI2
— ESPN Citizenship (@ESPNCitizenship) July 16, 2025
Tennis fans miss Sloane Stephens on the court. She did an outstanding job covering the French Open for TNT this year. Stephens also recently won the esteemed 2025 Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award. She is the first tennis player nominated for the award that was institued in 2013.
Stephens’ foundation has reached over 15,000 youth helping kids to foster healthy relationships to encourage academic, athletic, and personal growth.
It is unclear when Stephens will make her return to the tennis court. It does not seem like that will happen in 2025. She is using her time, name, and talent to improve the world in the meantime. She was selected over fellow nominees Alex Ovechkin and CJ McCollum.
