Aryna Sabalenka will begin her Madrid Open defence as the top seed this week, with the Belarusian world number one at the centre of a WTA field that reads like a Grand Slam draw. She won the 2025 title with a 6-3, 7-6 victory over Coco Gauff and has lost just twice at the Caja Magica since 2023, form that installs her as a clear favourite on a surface that has never been her strongest.
Behind Sabalenka, the top five features Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, with Karolina Muchova missing after reaching the Stuttgart final last week. Muchova's withdrawal is one of a handful of late changes that have forced the draw-makers to reshuffle the bottom half, and there are concerns that the turnaround from the German clay event has left several top-ten players short on recovery time.
For Swiatek, seeded three, the tournament is a chance to reset. She was beaten in Madrid last season by Gauff in a straight-set semifinal rout, and her 2026 clay swing so far has produced mixed results. She still heads the French Open betting for a reason, and the ten days in Madrid will tell a clearer story about where her movement and forehand timing sit ahead of Roland Garros.
Gauff arrives in form after reaching three finals on the US hardcourt spring swing, and her Madrid run last year, finishing as runner-up, gives her confidence on the altitude-affected clay. Rybakina, as ever, is the floating threat in the top half; the Kazakh brings the biggest serve in the women's game and has historically raised her clay level into May.
The tournament has expanded its prize pool again for 2026, with the women's champion collecting close to US$1.1 million and 1,000 ranking points. The expanded 96-player draw means players will have two days between early-round matches, a schedule change that the WTA insisted on after a spate of injuries at last year's Indian Wells.
Local interest will centre on Paula Badosa's wildcard return, with the Spaniard playing her first event back from a back injury that derailed her 2025. The draw spread her into Swiatek's section, which sets up a possible third-round meeting that would be one of the tournament's early blockbuster matches.
