Singapore hosts WTA finals
Singapore will be the venue for 2014 year-end Tour Championship of WTA annual calendar for the first time and it will be so until 2018. The annual WTA ranking is meant to show the overall performance of women in singles and doubles in the WTA tour. The top eight from the ranking of singles and doubles will play in Singapore as the Tour-Championship. For the top players few objectives loom at the beginning each year, one of them is to appear in the year-end finals. In fact, it is the big one. This year it will be on hard court and the prize money for the event is six and half million dollars.
Serena Williams
Grand-Slam and rankings
The Grand-Slam in Tennis is winning all four Grand-slam events in a calendar year. They are national championships of Australia, France, England and USA. In women’s Tennis this was achieved by Steffi Graf of Germany in 1988 for the last time. Less than five achieved this feat in the last 75 years. Grand-Slam being very tough to achieve the players’ prime objective in the open era is to focus on the world rankings. Apart from prestige top eight positions in the rankings qualifies the player into the year-end Tour Championship. This is where players are noticed by media, sponsors and the money is made; the big money.
To be in the elite eight of the world ranking good performance in the four Grand-Slams events is a must. Grand–Slams offer the biggest ranking points in the tour. All four of the Grand-Slam winners have made it into the top eight of the ranking this year. With so much at stake, the international Tennis calendar this year actually began in last week 2013 December went round the world and is still on in Beijing. This means players will have to take a lot of physical strain and focus entirely on performing at peak efficiency for full ten months. Gone are the days when players could also be a student while playing. Sad but true.
Top eight and Glamour
In singles the current WTA ranking shows the following to be in the top eight. American Serena Williams, Russian Maria Sharapova, Romanian Simona Halep, Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, Poland’s Agnieska Radwanska, Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki and Serbian Ana Ivanovic. The event being from the 17th to the 26th of October the only change could be in the bottom two. China-Open is on in Beijing at the moment. Europe has the biggest representation in the top eight. China’s Li-Na retirement last week must be a big disappointment for the Singapore event. She may be present but certainly not play. Players last year had a fashion show and a big photo shoot session as part of the program. It could be more this year.
Asia is represented in doubles by three; Chinese Peng Shuai, Su-Wei Hsieh and India’s Sania Mirza. Sania Mirza’s switch from singles to doubles is a wise one. This move has become common among ageing players. Even Martina Hingis who retired completely has returned to play doubles very effectively. Doubles is becoming attractive and interesting in the new formats. Unlike in regular tournaments doubles in the Tour 
Championships can produce very close matches.
Tennis court and the modern game
The Tennis court for single is 27 x 78 feet in Singles. This means each player can use and defend 27 x 39 feet of ground. Unlike cricket where reaction is sustained for a single delivery of the ball, Tennis is played in rallies. This means at the start of the rally players do not know the number of shots they will have to play to be in the rally. At the speed the game is played today players get less than half a second to defend the court and play a shot. This becomes a tall order when matches last over two hours and having to play close to 2000 shots. Keeping up the controlled reaction to accommodate precise stroke making takes a toll on the body and mind. The size of the court becomes irrelevant when the opponents are strong, only the best strategist and tacticians who can sustain the reaction, stand the stress and compile games effectively will win.
Women’s Tennis in singles and doubles has gone through much change to be a versatile all court game. The experienced players are s still dominating the game. This is why change of guard really did not happen this year. Serena Williams is still number one. Simona Halep and Eugenie Bouchard have made a mark entering the top eight comfortably. Few others European youngsters made their presence felt. They are Swiss Belinda Bencic and Aleksandra Krunic just to name two.
Singapore is the closest we have had to watch the big names of modern Tennis in person. Good many will use this opportunity.
As for Tennis, I don’t see this event will be an easy one for the big names in women’s Tennis. Some new comers are going to change the line up in the rankings in the near future.
-George Paldano, former international player; Accredited Coach of Germany, ITF and USPTR; National, Davis Cup and Federation Cup Coach–gptennis.ceylon@gmail.com-