Women's Tennis Association

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WTA stands for Women's Tennis Association, and is also known as the WTA Tour, and is to women's tennis what the ATP is to men's tennis. In 2005 the WTA changed its name into The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

The Women's Tennis Association was begun in Houston, Texas when the inaugural Virginia Slims event was won on 23 September 1970. Billie Jean King was a major figure in the early days of the WTA.

Contents

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Tournament categories

  1. Grand Slam Events
  2. Season-ending championships (WTA Tour Championships): with Three Million Dollars ($3,000,000) prize money.
  3. Tier tournaments:
    1. Tier I (minimum prize money of $1,300,000): There are ten (10) Tier I Tournaments.
    2. Tier II (minimum prize money of $585,000): There are sixteen (16) Tier II Tournaments
    3. Tier III (minimum prize money of $170,000): There are seventeen (17) Tournaments in this Tier.
    4. Tier IV (minimum prize money of $140,000): There are twelve (12) in this Tier.
    5. Tier V (minimum prize money of $110,000): There are two (2) in this Tier.
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Ranking

The organization releases a weekly ranking of the players's performance in the tour. Players' ranking points are counted how they fare on individual rounds of a tournament (round points) as well as the rank of the players they defeat (quality points). The following table gives the distribution of "round points":

Description W F SF QF R16 R32 R64 R128 QLFR Q3 Q2 Q1
Grand Slam (Singles) 650 456 292 162 90 56 32 2 26 21 12.5 2
Grand Slam (Doubles) 650 456 292 162 90 56 2 22 - - -
Tour Championships 485 340 218 121 67 - - - - - - -
Tier I (128) $2,000,000 325 228 146 81 45 28 16 1 11 - 6.25 1
Tier I (32) $2,000,000 325 228 146 81 45 1 - - 20 - - -
Tier I (16) $1,300,000 300 210 135 75 1 - - - 19 - - -
Tier I (32) $1,300,000 300 210 135 75 42 1 - - 18.5 10.5 5.75 1
Tier I (64) $1,300,000 300 210 135 75 42 25 1 - 10.5 - 5.75 1
Tier II (16) $650,000 220 154 99 55 1 - - - 13 - - -
Tier II (32) $650,000 220 154 99 55 29 1 - - 13.25 7.75 4.5 1
Tier II (64) $650,000 220 154 99 55 29 15 1 - 7.75 - 4.5 1
Tier II (16) $585,000 195 137 88 49 1 - - - 11.75 - - -
Tier II (32) $585,000 195 137 88 49 25 1 - - 11.75 6.75 4 1
Tier II (64) $585,000 195 137 88 49 25 14 1 - 11.75 6.75 4 1
Tier II (64) $585,000 195 137 88 49 25 14 1 - 6.75 - 4 1
Tier III (16) $225,000 145 103 66 37 1 - - - 9.5 - - -
Tier III (32) $225,000 145 103 66 37 19 1 - - 8.5 4.5 2.75 1
Tier III (64) $225,000 145 103 66 37 19 10 1 - 4.5 - 2.75 1
Tier III (16) $170,000 120 85 55 30 1 - - - 7.5 - - -
Tier III (32) $170,000 120 85 55 30 16 1 - - 7.25 3.75 2.25 1
Tier III (64) $170,000 120 85 55 30 16 9 1 - 3.75 - 2.25 1
Tier IV (16) $140,000 95 67 43 24 1 - - - 6.25 - - -
Tier IV (32) $140,000 95 67 43 24 12 1 - - 5.5 3.5 2 1
Tier IV (32) $140,000 95 67 43 24 12 1 - - 3.5 - 2 1
Tier V (16) $110,000 80 56 36 20 1 - - - 5 - - -
Tier V (32) $110,000 80 56 36 20 10 1 - - 4.5 3 2 1
ITF $75,000 + H* (16) 65 46 29 16 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $75,000 + H* (32) 65 46 29 16 8 1 - - 2.5 2 1.5 1
ITF $75,000 (16) 55 38.5 24.5 14.5 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $75,000 (32) 55 38.5 24.5 14.5 7 1 - - 2.5 2 1.5 1
ITF $50,000 + H* (16) 45 31.5 20 11.5 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $50,000 + H* (32) 45 31.5 20 11.5 5.5 1 - - 2.5 2 1.5 1
ITF $50,000 (16) 35 24.5 15.5 8.5 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $50,000 (32) 35 24.5 15.5 8.5 5 1 - - 2.5 2 1.5 1
ITF $25,000 (16) 25 17 11.5 7 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $25,000 (32) 25 17 11.5 7 3.5 1 - - 1.5 - .5 .25
ITF $10,000 M** (8) 12 8 5 1 - - - - - - - -
ITF $10,000 M**(16) 12 8 5 3 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $10,000 (16) 6 4 2 1.5 - - - - - - - -
ITF $10,000 (32) 6 4 2 1.5 1 - - - .75 - - -
ITF $ 5,000 M** (8) 5 4 2 1 - - - - - - - -
ITF $ 5,000 M**(16) 5 4 2 1.5 1 - - - - - - -

(*) “+H” indicates that Hospitality is provided (**) “M” indicates a Masters event

The "quality points" are calculated according to the table below:

Loser’s Rank Points Grand Slam Points
1 100 200
2* 75 150
3 66 132
4 55 110
5 50 100
6-10 43 86
11-16 35 70
17-25 23 46
26-35 15 30
36-50 10 20
51-75 8 16
76 –120 4 8
121–250 2 4
251–500 1 2
501-> 0 0

This is a list of players who have achieved the number one position in singles since the rankings' inception in 1975:

# Player Country Date Reached Weeks
1 Chris Evert United States 3 November 1975 262
2 Martina Navratilova Czechoslovakia / United States 10 July 1978 331
3 Tracy Austin United States 7 April 1980 22
4 Steffi Graf Germany 17 August 1987 377
5 Monica Seles Yugoslavia / United States 11 March 1991 178
6 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Spain 6 February 1995 12
7 Martina Hingis Switzerland 31 March 1997 209
8 Lindsay Davenport United States 12 October 1998 85 present
9 Jennifer Capriati United States 15 October 2001 17
10 Venus Williams United States 25 February 2002 11
11 Serena Williams United States 8 July 2002 57
12 Kim Clijsters Belgium 11 August 2003 12
13 Justine Henin Hardenne Belgium 20 October 2003 45
14 Amelie Mauresmo France 13 September 2004 5
15 Maria Sharapova Russia 22 August 2005 7
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Records

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Title Leaders in the Open Era

  1. Martina Navratilova: 167
  2. Chris Evert: 154
  3. Steffi Graf: 107
  4. Margaret Court: 92
  5. Evonne Goolagong Cawley: 68
  6. Billy Jean King: 67
  7. Virginia Wade: 55
  8. Monica Seles: 53
  9. Lindsay Davenport: 51
  10. Martina Hingis: 40
  11. Conchita Martinez: 33
  12. Venus Williams: 33
  13. Tracy Austin: 30
  14. Kim Clijsters: 30
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Most Titles in a Season

Before 1990 (15 +):

  1. 21 - Margaret Court (1970)
  2. 18 - Margaret Court (1969, 1973)
  3. 17 - Bily Jean King (1971)
  4. 16 - Chris Evert (1974, 1975)
  5. 16 - Martina Navratilova (1983)
  6. 15 - Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1970)
  7. 15 - Martina Navratilova (1982)

Since 1990 (8 +):

  1. 12 - Martina Hingis (1997)
  2. 10 - Monica Seles (1991, 1992)
  3. 10 - Steffi Graf (1990, 1993)
  4. 9 - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (1994)
  5. 9 - Steffi Graf (1995)
  6. 9 - Martina Hingis (2000)
  7. 9 - Kim Clijsters (2003)
  8. 9 - Kim Clijsters (2005)
  9. 8 - Steffi Graf (1992)
  10. 8 - Justine Henin-Hardenne (2003)
  11. 8 - Serena Williams (2002)
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Oldest Winners of a Title

  1. Billie Jean King: 39 yrs, 7 mos, 23 days (1983 Birmingham)
  2. Martina Navratilova: 37 yrs, 4 mos, 2 days (1994 Paris Indoors)
  3. Margaret Court: 34 yrs, 4 mos, 26 days (1976 Melbourne)
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Youngest Winners of a Title

  1. Tracy Austin: 14 yrs, 28 days (1977 Portand)
  2. Andrea Jaeger: 14 yrs, 7 mos, 14 days (1980 Las Vegas)
  3. Kathy Rinaldi: 14 yrs, 6 mos, 24 days (1981 Kyoto)
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Match Win Leaders in Open Era

  1. Martina Navratilova: 1442
  2. Chris Evert: 1304
  3. Steffi Graf: 900
  4. Virginia Wade: 839
  5. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario: 759
  6. Conchita Martinez: 711
  7. Evonne Goolagong Cawley: 704
  8. Billy Jean King: 695
  9. Lindsay Davenport: 693
  10. Gabriela Sabatini: 632
  11. Pam Shriver: 625
  12. Helena Sukova: 614
  13. Nathalie Tauziat: 606
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Longest Winning Streaks

  1. 74 - Martina Navratilova (1984)
  2. 66 - Steffi Graf (1989-90)
  3. 58 - Martina Navratilova (1986-87)
  4. 57 - Margaret Court (1972-73)
  5. 55 - Chris Evert (1974)
  6. 54 - Martina Navratilova (1983-84)
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Calendar-year Grand Slams

  • Maureen Connolly (United States) in 1953
  • Margaret Court (Australia) in 1970
  • Steffi Graf (Germany) in 1988
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Non calendar-year Grand Slams

  • Martina Navratilova (United States): 1983 Wimbledon, US Open, Australian Open & 1984 French Open
  • Steffi Graf (Germany): 1993 French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, 1994 Australian Open
  • Serena Williams (United States): 2002 French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, 2003 Australian Open
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Career Grand Slams

(year indicates first victory in a particular Slam)

  • Doris Hart (United States) - 1949 Australian Open, 1950 French Open, 1951 Wimbledon, 1954 US Open
  • Shirley Fry (United States) - 1957 Australian Open, 1951 French Open, 1956 Wimbledon, 1956 US
  • Billie Jean King (United States) - 1968 Australian Open, 1972 French Open, 1966 Wimbledon, 1967 US Open
  • Chris Evert (United States) - 1982 Australian Open, 1974 French Open, 1974 Wimbledon, 1975 US
  • Martina Navratilova (United States) - 1981 Australian Open, 1982 French Open, 1978 Wimbledon, 1983 US Open
  • Serena Williams (United States) - 2003 Australian Open, 2002 French Open, 2002 Wimbledon, 1999 US Open
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Grand Slam Title Leaders

Player Australian Open French Open Wimbledon US Open Overall Total
S D MD S D MD S D MD S D MD S D MD
Margaret Smith Court 11 8 2 5 4 4 3 2 5 5 5 8 24 19 19 62
Martina Navratilova 3 8 1 2 7 2 9 7 4 4 9 2 18 31 9 58
Billie Jean King 1 0 1 1 1 2 6 10 4 4 5 4 12 16 11 39
Margaret Osborne duPont DNP 2 3 0 1 5 1 3 13 9 6  ? 10 12 21 37
Doris Hart 1 1 2 2 5 3 1 4 5 2 4 5 6 14 15 35

[S=Singles; D=Doubles; MD= Mixed Doubles]

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Other Trivia

  • Chris Evert holds the Open Era overall win-loss ratio record : 0.901 (1,304 wins and 144 losses)
  • 157 players have made $1 million dollars or more since 1970.
  • 27 players have made $5 million dollars or more since 1970.
  • 12 players have made $10 million dollars or more since 1970.
  • 7 players have made $15 million dollars or more since 1970.
  • 3 players have made $20 million dollars or more since 1970.
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See also

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External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Tennis_Association"
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