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Who are the most important players for the tour worldwide?

6K views 70 replies 49 participants last post by  rjd1111 
#1 ·
Don't post your favorites but the players you think are most important to promote the tour, to get public interest etc.

Considering that China is such a huge country and Na Li broke all the records for most spectators (French Open Final 2010 - Bejing 2012) she is sure very important for the tour - at least in Asia. Esp cause Jie Zheng and Shuai Peng are miles behind her.


In my opinion:

1. Sharapova
2. Serena Williams
3. Li
4. Venus Williams
5. Ivanovic
 
#8 ·
1)Masha, Serena
2) Azarenka, Li


35) Wozniacki
 
#10 ·
I term of promiting WTA? globally than i say

Sharapova - Serena - by far 2 biggest stars and names worldwide

Than 2nd tier names would be Li, Ivanovic, Stosur, maybe even Vika - Venus don´t know how important she is now, but definitely is not on top like years before

I forgot Caroline :D even she is not No.1 anymore she is good for marketing - and was 2 years No.1 so she made ,,name,, for her
 
#12 ·
Williams and Sharapova are the world wide most famous athlets for this sport.

Ivanovic is pretty popular too, but IMO Caroline promoted tennis when she was world n°1 like none did before her (for once let out the hate for her game etc.) but she really spent a lot of time for the WTA making promotions and advertising. She's really well known out of the world of tennis too and despite all the critics she's done a lot for the wta.
 
#19 ·
Agree with you, BTW Serena and Maria are most popular female athletes in any sport, there is no other female sport that can compare with WTA, even when you look on most earning athletes - i think like 8,9 from top 10 were tennis players.


About Caroline - yes she did a great job promoting WTA, when she was No.1 she also signed a lot of deals and i think right now she is 4th best earning after Maria, Li, Serena - if she would have results - i mean at least top 5 i would say she is more important than Li - honestly she is not good looking she is not young, she isn´t even that good, won RG, played AO F but that´s it, just ordinary top 10 player also only for last 2 yeaers-her marketing power is purely on China.

I would say Caro is 4th most important after Maria,Serna, Li even with those mediocre resulst in 2012...
 
#13 ·
Serena, Sharapova and Li.
Venus belongs to this group but is totally overshadowed by Serena nowadays.
Ivanovic has had her chance but failed to use it.
Others are still a who?-bunch of players compared to Anna Kournikova.
 
#14 ·
As others have said... Serena, Sharapova and Li - there are plenty of others who attract some interest for a variety of reasons (Venus, Kvitova, Wozniacki, Azarenka, Ivanovic, Hantuchova, etc) but I think only those 3 have real marketing power at present.
 
#15 · (Edited)
You can't ever disregard Venus because she and Serena will always be seen as the Williams Sisters. That sold and that still sells :shrug:

Li is a player for 2 billion people even if she's pretty much unknown in the rest of the world.

What I notice the most though is that the WTA as a product doesn't sell as much as say 4 years ago. Even Sharapova's name isn't thrown around as much even if she's still women's tennis "highlight".
 
#20 ·
Agree that Vika and Pera should be more promoted, but i think even if they will have better resulst in next years than CAro - she will be more popular than both of them

Caro alredy was No.1 pretty long and is pretty marketable - good looking, smiling, good english and so on

Vika - well she is Vika, has her own style, not most markatable person out there, she´s been No.1 basically since January and i am sure not so many people know here outside tennis world

Petra-she also didn´t backup her 2011 resulst this year, but her problems are even bigger at this poitn-bad english + she is pretty humble, shy girl

It is hard for WTA to do magic with such characters, not everybody is Sharapova that can go in front of paparazzis, make showbiz, sign deals, but WTA should definitely promote some younger top players.
 
#18 ·
Serena - the best player in last decade (maybe not better than others in particular years (e.g. Justine in 2006, but still)
Maria - She's the WTA's face in showbiz.
Li - because of China
Victoria - she's #1 and she's indisputable #1
 
#25 ·
Serena and Sharapova definitely. I mean just their names alone and people who don't regularly watch tennis know who they are. Li is bringing in the Chinese market without a doubt and Sam is doing a good job down under. (she'd do a better job if she could win a match in her home county though :oh:)
 
#26 ·
1. Sharapova, Serena
2. Li Na, Ivanovic, Venus
3. Wozniacki, Azarenka
4. Kvitova, Stosur, Radwanska
5. Kuznetsova, Jankovic, Kerber, Kirilenko, Hantuchova
6. Bartoli, Errani, Schiavone, Mirza, Zheng, Lisicki
etc
 
#28 ·
Maria Serena and Li are the most right now, followed by Vee *who would be with the other 3 if she was able to play more* Ana and Vika who Vika will be right up there with the top 3 soon. Woz was on her way there before her little slump, if she can somehow win a slam I think she'll be there with Vika.
 
#30 ·
Sharapova, Serena and Li Na because of the Chinese market. The rest is pretty much irrelevant worldwide :shrug:
 
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