WTA
WTA stands for the Women’s Tennis Association. It was founded by the American former top-ranked professional tennis player, Billie Jean King, in 1973. It is a principal organizing body, which is focused on women’s professional tennis.
This association supervises the WTA Tour, the universally known professional tennis championship for talented women. It is the counterpart of the Association of Tennis Professionals or simply ATP, which is concerned with men’s professional game. Speaking of professionalism, experienced punters should also look for the best WTA Tour odds before placing their bets. For this particular reason, we strongly recommend open an account via betting agent.
Officially WTA was founded in June 1973; however, its origins could be traced back to Houston, Texas, where Virginia Slims tournament took place in 1970. Rosie Casals was the one to win this very first tournament among women professional tennis players. The association’s headquarters is found in St. Petersburg, Florida, however, WTA’s offices can also be found in London and Beijing. Interested in WTA Tour betting? Follow our WTA predictions and achieve success!
Historical Review
The year 1968 is considered to be pivotal in the history of tennis, as far as it is the time when the Open Era began. As a result, amateurs got a unique opportunity to challenge top-ranked professional tennis players. British Hard Court Championship was the first open tournament held in Bournemouth. It is worth noting that at first, the prize fund differed significantly in favour of men (2.5:1). For example, Rod Lavern won 2,000 pounds for taking the title, while Billie Jean King got only 750 pounds. The total cash funds of both competitions amounted to 5,680 pounds for women and 14,800 pounds for men.
By the 1970s the situation became worse, and the spread between men’s and women’s prize money only increased. It may come as a surprise, but these figures inflated to 8:1, and even 12:1 later on. The female tennis players waxed indignant over such crying injustice. The situation became even more heated when Margaret Court won the Grand Slam tournament and got only $15,000 as a prize, whereas any men, in this case, could get at least $1,000,000.
As a result, women decided to boycott any tennis events and soon created the 1979 Houston Women’s Invitation for nine female tennis players, which later served as a basis for the WTA tour. The WTA itself was founded during the meeting, organized by previously mentioned Billie Jean King. Several years later the members of the association signed the first contract with television broadcast, and the sponsorship problem was solved once and for all.
Peculiar occurrences
Australian Open has quite a significant heritage, so no wonder there are so many interesting stories and peculiar occurrences linked to the tournament. For example, the youngest Grand Slam champion of the 20th century was 16year-old Martina Hingis, who has managed to capture the title in 1997. The longest women’s match in the whole history of Grand Slam, not only of the Australian Open, was played between Svetlana Kuznetsova and Francesca Schiavone, and lasted for 4 hours and 44 minutes. There are lots of outstanding tennis players, who have the honorary Open Era record. Among them are the following personalities: Serena Williams, Evonne Goolagong, Famers Margaret Court, Monica Seles and Steffi Graff.
Prize pool and trophies
A motivating prize pool makes this tournament especially attractive for all the participants. Traditionally, the prize money awarded in women’s and men’s singles tournaments is distributed in equal parts. The total prize money for the 2013 tournament accounts for 30,000,000 AUD. The prize pool was distributed in the following way:
Stage
Singles
Doubles
Mixed Doubles
W
$2,430,000
$475,000
$135,500
F
$1,215,000
$237,500
$67,500
SF
$500,000
$118,750
$33,900
QF
$250,000
$60,000
$15,500
4R
$15,500
--------------
--------------
3R
$71,000
$33,500
--------------
2R
$45,500
$19,500
$7,800
1R
$27,600
$12,500
$3,800
Q3
$13,120
--------------
--------------
Q2
$6,560
--------------
--------------
Q1
$3,280
--------------
--------------
You should take into consideration that the currency used at the tournament is the Australian Dollar. If exchanged to some other currencies like EUR or USD, the average prize would account for 2.3 million USD or 2 million EUR. A significant prize pool is not the only thing attracting so many talented tennis players. Besides the money, the winner gets worldwide fame and their name written on perpetual trophy Cups.
WTA
WTA stands for the Women’s Tennis Association. It was founded by the American former top-ranked professional tennis player, Billie Jean King, in 1973. It is a principal organizing body, which is focused on women’s professional tennis.
This association supervises the WTA Tour, the universally known professional tennis championship for talented women. It is the counterpart of the Association of Tennis Professionals or simply ATP, which is concerned with men’s professional game. Speaking of professionalism, experienced punters should also look for the best WTA Tour odds before placing their bets. For this particular reason, we strongly recommend open an account via betting agent.
Officially WTA was founded in June 1973; however, its origins could be traced back to Houston, Texas, where Virginia Slims tournament took place in 1970. Rosie Casals was the one to win this very first tournament among women professional tennis players. The association’s headquarters is found in St. Petersburg, Florida, however, WTA’s offices can also be found in London and Beijing. Interested in WTA Tour betting? Follow our WTA predictions and achieve success!
Historical Review
The year 1968 is considered to be pivotal in the history of tennis, as far as it is the time when the Open Era began. As a result, amateurs got a unique opportunity to challenge top-ranked professional tennis players. British Hard Court Championship was the first open tournament held in Bournemouth. It is worth noting that at first, the prize fund differed significantly in favour of men (2.5:1). For example, Rod Lavern won 2,000 pounds for taking the title, while Billie Jean King got only 750 pounds. The total cash funds of both competitions amounted to 5,680 pounds for women and 14,800 pounds for men.
By the 1970s the situation became worse, and the spread between men’s and women’s prize money only increased. It may come as a surprise, but these figures inflated to 8:1, and even 12:1 later on. The female tennis players waxed indignant over such crying injustice. The situation became even more heated when Margaret Court won the Grand Slam tournament and got only $15,000 as a prize, whereas any men, in this case, could get at least $1,000,000.
As a result, women decided to boycott any tennis events and soon created the 1979 Houston Women’s Invitation for nine female tennis players, which later served as a basis for the WTA tour. The WTA itself was founded during the meeting, organized by previously mentioned Billie Jean King. Several years later the members of the association signed the first contract with television broadcast, and the sponsorship problem was solved once and for all.
WTA Tour Championships
WTA Tour Championship is a very prestigious tennis tournament organized exclusively for female professional top-ranked players. It is traditionally held at the end of the season and gathers lots of tennis fans. Check Asian Bookmaker reviews via betting agent and find the most suitable bookie for you to this tournament. Most critics and experts consider the WTA Tour Championships to be the 5th most popular and exciting event on women’s tour after the four Majors – the Grand Slam tournaments. It is worth noting that the WTA tour has the largest prize pool and ranking points after the four Grand Slam tournaments.
WTA Rankings (since 1973)
Weeks No. 1 |
# |
|
Consecutive |
# |
WTA Year-end No. 1 |
|||
| Steffi Graf | 377 | 1. | Steffi Graf | 186 | 1. | Steffi Graf | 8 | |
| Martina Navratilova | 332 | 2. | Martina Navratilova | 156 | 2. | Martina Navratilova | 7 | |
| Chris Evert | 262 | 3. | Chris Evert | 113 | 3. | Chris Evert | 5 | |
| Martina Hingis | 209 | 4. | Steffi Graf | 94 | 4. | Lindsay Davenport | 4 | |
| Monica Seles | 178 | 5. | Monica Seleš | 91 | 5. | Justine Henin | 3 | |
| Serena Williams | 127 | 6. | Martina Navratilova | 90 | 6. | Martina Hingis | 3 | |
| Justine Henin | 117 | 7. | Steffi Graf | 87 | 7. | Monica Seles | 3 | |
| Lindsay Davenport | 98 | 8. | Martina Hingis | 80 | 8. | Serena Williams | 2 | |
| Caroline Wozniacki | 67 | 9. | Chris Evert | 76 | 9. | Caroline Wozniacki | 2 | |
| Victoria Azarenka | 51 | 10. | Martina Hingis | 73 | 10. | Victoria Azarenka | 1 | |