Tuesday, November 14, 2006
One Down, One to Go
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As Justine Henin-Hardenne concluded her 6-4, 6-3 victory over Amelie Mauresmo in the season ending Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships here in Madrid, Spain, the curtain closed on another season of women's professional tennis.
The season was not without its controversies. Wimbledon continued to hold tight to its stance on equality (or in this case, inequality) of prize money. On-court coaching was introduced on a trial basis to stem the practice of illegal coaching from the stands by some of the top players' coaches and family. Top players pulled out of more top tournaments in 2006 than ever before, leaving the tournament directors and WTA Tour officials scrambling to salvage ticket sales and reputations.
Henin-Hardenne finishes number one on the tour, and winning the championship here in Madrid establishes her as the just and clear number one. Her opponent in the final, Amelie Mauresmo, spent time on top of the tour standings, won two major tournaments (the Australian Open and Wimbledon) and was considered by many to be the true number one player for 2006. To her credit, she finally broke through with a signature win at Wimbledon, and was a title contender every week she played. Henin-Hardenne was the surprise comebacker, making it to all four major finals, but only winning at Roland Garros. It was a fitting end to the tour calendar.
Interestingly, just a few weeks ago, the WTA Tour and WTA CEO Larry Scott issued an emergency press release calling for reforms in the rules for the 2007 tour, as well as the acceleration of the Tour Roadmap 2010, all of which to happen no later then the final WTA board meeting in 2006. I say interestingly because several of the players participating in the season-ending championships here in Madrid were visibly tired and warn.
Just watching Maria Sharapova in her semifinal with Justine Henin-Hardenne you could see how a full season of top-flight play had left little reserve in her tank. Now, a lot can be said about her off-court schedule, but Sharapova is the only player in the top eight who consistently made it deep in every major tournament and who did not suffer any injuries, nor took any rest of any kind. Justine had several opportunities to "rest" due to injury, as well as did semifinalist Kim Clijsters. Clijsters injured her left wrist prior to the U.S. Open and returned to the tour just prior to the Sony WTA Tour championships. Both of these players arrived in Madrid fresh and rested.
The high number of pullouts this season affected some of the best tournaments on the tour, and at one point seemed to decimate the summer U.S. hard-court season. No Tier I tournament had six of the top 10 players in it. (Tier I tournaments are guaranteed by the tour to have at least six of the top 10 in the draw.) Venus and Serena Williams, always top ticket draws, spent a significant time off the tour and Serena pulled out of a series of summer tournaments at the very last minute. While Venus and Serena finished 41 and 76 respectively in the Race to the Championships rankings, the full effect of the withdrawals was felt at the tournament box offices.
Much is made about the length of the tour and over work of the players. To a certain extent, it is true. Players play a longer schedule at the top level then they ever did. A longer winter offseason clearly won't hurt. I still have my personal opinion on this. Players today have the best physical and mental training available to them, and should be able to hold up the entire year injury-free. Top players today also have teams of managers, coaches, assistants, and agents to handle most of their efforts and to plan and arrange their schedules. Shouldn't be any problem fitting it all in with some time off, either.
CEO Scott and the tour announced changes that will shorten the tour year, lower the minimum number of tournaments players must play, and a series of other rules that basically make the season shorter and give the players fewer tennis commitments. I predict that these changes will not have a drastic effect on the tour or pullouts. Without connecting any of the reforms to earnings/winnings, players will still be pulling out at the higher rate.
Through a racquet sports connection, I discovered recently that Miss Sharapova's calendar is fully booked for a year and a half. Most of that, of course, are non-tennis appearances mixed into her tennis schedule. I think its obvious that unless player off-court, non-tennis commitments are curtailed in conjunction with the reductions in the tour rules, the extra time off only amounts to more off-court projects for the top players. Their schedules won't get any lighter. Top players will still be pulling out of tournaments.
Here's to hoping the rule changes provide the WTA Tour with everything they hope they could bring. I'd love to see a full season with Justine, Kim, Amelie, Martina, Nadia, Serena, Venus, and Patty and the rest of the girls banging it out on court every week in 2007.
I am not sure what your connections are but this article has some inaccuracies about it and, as well, it is not an article about WTA but your fascination of Maria Sharapova.
1. She did have injuries and dropped out of tournaments because of them - several in fact so you might want to do some more research before you print such inaccuracies
2. She took well over a month off from tennis after the US Open so she should have been well rested coming into the final group of tournaments.