WTA News and Gossip 2015

[tented]

wwhere are uk tennis fans supposed to be watching the wta tour ?,

skysports never show wta tourneys ?, who has the wta rights in the uk ? anyone know ?.

JLLB, I usually go to a site called Lemon TV and they usually have a few links to a match and it is rare when I can't find one that works. They had the ESPN link to the Bencic-Kerber match so I watched that. It's not always the best picture but it's better than nothing or paying for unreliable sites.

That site doesn't work anymore in the US (you get an error message), but hopefully it does in the UK.

 

[Kirijax]

wwhere are uk tennis fans supposed to be watching the wta tour ?,

skysports never show wta tourneys ?, who has the wta rights in the uk ? anyone know ?.

JLLB, I usually go to a site called Lemon TV and they usually have a few links to a match and it is rare when I can't find one that works. They had the ESPN link to the Bencic-Kerber match so I watched that. It's not always the best picture but it's better than nothing or paying for unreliable sites.

That site doesn't work anymore in the US (you get an error message), but hopefully it does in the UK.

Wow. I guess I can get more access here in the boondocks of the Orient than the good 'ol USA. :snicker

 

[Kirijax]

Just a rant, but I sure wish the WTA would just line up their tournament categories with ATP's system. It would be so much easier to follow and know how big each tournament is.

Premier Mandatory: Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing
Premier 5: Doha/Dubai, Rome, Montreal/Toronto, Cincinnati, Wuhan

Make these Premier 1000 tournaments.
Note: and why the heck are there two of these in China?!

Premier: There are twelve of these. Make them Premier 500 tournaments.

International: Make these 250 tournaments. There are 32 of them during the year.

The ATP's system of putting the 1000, 500 and 250 on the categories was genius. We immediately know what level of tournament and what the players are playing for. The WTA system is confusing a bit hazy.

Gotta make it easier for the casual fan to understand. The Tier system was much better.

Get with the program, WTA!

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Surely, ATP's 1000, 500 and 250 system makes it easy for casual fans to follow.

But, WTA would not follow he suit, partly because they don't want to be seen copying thngs from ATP (even if the idea is good). Second, their premier 5's are partially mandatory and not fully mandatory (and this part is understandable). But, look at the points given to winners of WTA tourneys. There are too many levels. Also, the numbers are weird such as 270 etc.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

Just a rant, but I sure wish the WTA would just line up their tournament categories with ATP's system. It would be so much easier to follow and know how big each tournament is.

Premier Mandatory: Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing
Premier 5: Doha/Dubai, Rome, Montreal/Toronto, Cincinnati, Wuhan

Make these Premier 1000 tournaments.
Note: and why the heck are there two of these in China?!

Premier: There are twelve of these. Make them Premier 500 tournaments.

International: Make these 250 tournaments. There are 32 of them during the year.

The ATP's system of putting the 1000, 500 and 250 on the categories was genius. We immediately know what level of tournament and what the players are playing for. The WTA system is confusing a bit hazy.

Gotta make it easier for the casual fan to understand. The Tier system was much better.

Get with the program, WTA!

I think a lot of these Chinese events were brought in with the rise of Li Na. I think now that Kei is the only player making noise we might see less of a focus on Asia.

I also think the casual fan doesn't care about what type of tournament it is.

 

[jhar26]

I also think the casual fan doesn't care about what type of tournament it is.

They don't care because they don't have a clue. But to be fair, which casual fan could explain the difference between a premier mandatory, a premier5, a premier and an international? It's as though they don't WANT fans to know what's important and what isn't.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

Again, I think die hard tennis fans care, but the casual fan probably doesn't care what tournament it is if it isn't a slam.

 

[Kirijax]

Maybe, but why not keep it simple and easy to understand? I'm a die hard fan and even I can't keep the Premiers straight. The ATP has finally figured it out and the WTA tried to follow it subtlety back in, when was it, 2009 or so but they had to make it different enough to not be so obvious. They sure did that but they should have just left it as Tier I, II and so on.

 

[Kirijax]

Just saw on Twitter that Bencic and Stephens have dropped out of next weeks tournament in Connecticut.

 

[golds girl]

Again, I think die hard tennis fans care, but the casual fan probably doesn't care what tournament it is if it isn't a slam.

Not sure whether casual fans even know that there are tourneys outside of the majors:snicker

 

[tented]

Again, I think die hard tennis fans care, but the casual fan probably doesn't care what tournament it is if it isn't a slam.

Not sure whether casual fans even know that there are tourneys outside of the majors:snicker

There's a lot of truth to that, actually. The majors, plus some (but maybe not all) tournaments which are in their country, and that's it.

The truly "casual" fan in the US, for example, has no idea there are tournaments in, say, Tokyo or Stuttgart. They know the US Open, the French Open (not "Roland Garros"), Wimbledon, the Australian Open, and probably Indian Wells, Miami, and Cincinnati. Beyond that, they're pretty much clueless.

 

[Kirijax]

Again, I think die hard tennis fans care, but the casual fan probably doesn't care what tournament it is if it isn't a slam.

Not sure whether casual fans even know that there are tourneys outside of the majors:snicker

There's a lot of truth to that, actually. The majors, plus some (but maybe not all) tournaments which are in their country, and that's it.

The truly "casual" fan in the US, for example, has no idea there are tournaments in, say, Tokyo or Stuttgart. They know the US Open, the French Open (not "Roland Garros"), Wimbledon, the Australian Open, and probably Indian Wells, Miami, and Cincinnati. Beyond that, they're pretty much clueless.

True, i guess it doesn't matter to the ones who don't care about tennis that much. I don't know diddly about women's golf and I have no clue what the major titles are or how many.
But when they flash a stat on a screen, talking about what the player has done this year, it is so much easier to understand when they say "Murray has won a Masters 1000, two 500s and a 250 this year" than if they say "Halep has won a Premier Mandatory, a Premier 5, and an International title this year." What? Even I still have trouble keeping straight what is what.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

ATP's biggest achievement is creating the ATP 1000, ATP 500 and ATP 25o tourneys.

ATP's biggest blunder is continuously changing the name of the tourney currently called WTF. You can go through the list of name changes, with each one worse than the previous one and finally we ended up fittingly in WTF.

 

[Kirijax]

ATP's biggest achievement is creating the ATP 1000, ATP 500 and ATP 25o tourneys.

ATP's biggest blunder is continuously changing the name of the tourney currently called WTF. You can go through the list of name changes, with each one worse than the previous one and finally we ended up fittingly in WTF.

:laydownlaughing

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

wwhere are uk tennis fans supposed to be watching the wta tour ?,

skysports never show wta tourneys ?, who has the wta rights in the uk ? anyone know ?.

JLLB, I usually go to a site called Lemon TV and they usually have a few links to a match and it is rare when I can't find one that works. They had the ESPN link to the Bencic-Kerber match so I watched that. It's not always the best picture but it's better than nothing or paying for unreliable sites.

ok thanks, I will try it. see if it works in the uk.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

With just Connecticut event to go, here are the leaders in the USO Series.

1. Serena Williams (USA) 145
2. Simona Halep (ROU) 140
3. Belinda Bencic (SUI) 115
4. Angelique Kerber (GER) 85
5. Elina Svitolina (UKR) 70
6. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 60

Only the top three finishers can make extra money based on how far they go at US Open.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

But don't Kerber and Halep if she plays Connecticut get their points doubled for playing 3 events?

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

I think Kerber takes it unless Simona plays New Haven.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

Oh never mind Kerber didn't get any points for going out in the 1st round of Cincy. So no double points for her, but Halep could if she plays New Haven.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

But don't Kerber and Halep if she plays Connecticut get their points doubled for playing 3 events?

Your points get doubled if you get points from at least three different events. It is not enough to merely play in three different events.

Having said that they both have already earned points at two events. So, they need to win points at the third event in Connecticut so that it gets doubled. In order to do so, they need to reach at least QF.

So, their best strategy would be to win a couple of matches, reach QF and then call it quits.