[larryd]

In my opinion the WTA Finals have lost their status as the tour's crown jewel. Today the WTA Finals are just an ordinary tournament with a shitload of points, but their prestige and importance no longer add much to a player's resume. In the past, winning the WTA Finals was almost as important as winning a Grand Slam. From 1972 to 2015, the tournament had always been won by Grand Slam champions, with only one exception in 1982. Three of the last four editions have been captured by slamless champions instead, which is certainly not a good sign: Where were the big champions in those editions? While the Slams are constantly growing in terms of traditions, prestige and importance, the WTA Finals have gone downhill due to a bunch of questionable choices by the WTA management:

1) In order to build traditions, the WTA Finals need a steady location, ideally in a global city or a prestigious sports' arena. Moving the tournament around to a bunch of different locations and venues doesn't allow the tournament to grow or have any sort of continuity. It feels like a different and brand new tournament every three, five or ten years.
2) The Fall calendar is a mess. Players are chasing points in different parts of the globe with different time-zones and playing conditions. Most of them make it to the Finals completely exhausted. In September and October as a build-up to the Finals , there should be some low-key Premier and International events in cozy playing conditions, ideally indoors and in the same time-zone as the Finals.

 

[swissfanatic]

eh it was bad the last couple of years no doubt but this year will be great assuming Andreescu, Barty, Osaka continue like they have been doing recently .all young slam champions and i suspect one of them to win it rather than the boring Svitolina/Pliskova .

so i think we will get a good winner again this year .

i do think the tournament needs to move back to Europe ideally .although i don't really think that would have changed anything with regards to whos been winning it recently:shrug:

 

[HatersGoToHell]

1) It's really unfortunate that WTA finals has stayed for some many years in China.
2) WTA should make the surface faster, it makes the quality of the matches much better.
3) WTA road to WTA Finals should end in Beijing. It would also help make Asian Swing more excited too.

 

[babsi]

It was NEVER as important as a Grand Slam.

 

[Viktorija]

I’m here for a WTA yearbook photo. That’s all I care about YEC.

 

[Raiden]

WTA itself is too incompetent and treats its own crown jewel like an afterthought: the WTA Awards are given one week before the WTA finals begins. In other words the WTA finals matches have no impact on the award results (since the following year's awards only take into account what happens from January 1st onward)

 

[cheerego]

1) It's really unfortunate that WTA finals has stayed for some many years in China.
2) WTA should make the surface faster, it makes the quality of the matches much better.
3) WTA road to WTA Finals should end in Beijing. It would also help make Asian Swing more excited too.

1) WTA finals has never been played in China for once

 

[HatersGoToHell]

1) It's really unfortunate that WTA finals has stayed for some many years in China.
2) WTA should make the surface faster, it makes the quality of the matches much better.
3) WTA road to WTA Finals should end in Beijing. It would also help make Asian Swing more excited too.

1) WTA finals has never been played in China for once

It will stay in Shenzhen for 10 years...

 

[morgendorffer]

It would be nice if the venue for YEC changed annually.

I also think that the bloated tour makes each tournament less relevant. The whole thing needs simplifying as mentioned in other threads.
It's a shame that ATP and WTA events aren't integrated more often - the more successful tournaments like Indian Wells, Miami or Rome are ones where both are playing the same event at the same time.

Until changes like this are made, the fairweather tennis fan is unlikely to care about a YEC in China which plays at a time that most of the world is in bed.

 

[cheerego]

It will stay in Shenzhen for 10 years...

Then you can say "1)It's really unfortunate that WTA finals will stay for some many years in China."

And poor Shenzhen has nothing to do with this topic, if the status is already lost.

 

[Wiggly]

It does hurt the tournament's credibility when Radwanska and Cibulkova win it with a 1-2 RR record.

The prize money increase is extraordinary as well. Half the field would struggle to sell out a 3000 seats stadium yet one of them may leave Shenzhen with the biggest cheque in tennis' history.

 

[jar11235]

In my opinion the WTA Finals have lost their status as the tour's crown jewel. Today the WTA Finals are just an ordinary tournament with a shitload of points, but their prestige and importance no longer add much to a player's resume. In the past, winning the WTA Finals was almost as important as winning a Grand Slam. From 1972 to 2015, the tournament had always been won by Grand Slam champions, with only one exception in 1982. Three of the last four editions have been captured by slamless champions instead, which is certainly not a good sign: Where were the big champions in those editions? While the Slams are constantly growing in terms of traditions, prestige and importance, the WTA Finals have gone downhill due to a bunch of questionable choices by the WTA management:

1) In order to build traditions, the WTA Finals need a steady location, ideally in a global city or a prestigious sports' arena. Moving the tournament around to a bunch of different locations and venues doesn't allow the tournament to grow or have any sort of continuity. It feels like a different and brand new tournament every three, five or ten years.
2) The Fall calendar is a mess. Players are chasing points in different parts of the globe with different time-zones and playing conditions. Most of them make it to the Finals completely exhausted. In September and October as a build-up to the Finals , there should be some low-key Premier and International events in cozy playing conditions, ideally indoors and in the same time-zone as the Finals.

Gabriela Sabatini won the YEC in 1988 without having won a slam by then.

 

[iGOAT]

I would argue that it's been a joke since Madrid. The Doha stint had good players winning (thank god) and even some great matches over the years, but overall I remember it as empty stadiums, lots of boring matches, and a certain Wonder Woman not bothering to show up. Istanbul was a great atmosphere, although frankly I can't remember many good matches from it, and then the Singapore mud happened and things have been a mess. Maybe Shenzhen will pull a Wuhan and get the court speed right but I don't have much hope .

 

[iGOAT]

Gabriela Sabatini won the YEC in 1988 without having won a slam by then.

So did Mauresmo and Woz more recently, but let's be real that Lady Aga and Pome are not going to save that tradition. Even Elaine is far from a given.

 

[goldenlox]

Lets look at the last decade, 2009-2018
2009 Serena/Venus
2010 Clijsters/Wozniacki
2011 Kvitova/Azarenka
2012 Serena/Sharapova
2013 Serena/Li
2014 Serena/Halep
2015 Radwanska/Kvitova
2017 Wozniacki/Venus

That is a pretty good look at the last decade and if we get a final like Andreescu/Osaka/Barty in some way, it continues

 

[CatfishRivers]

It was NEVER as important as a Grand Slam.

Well it's paying more prize money than the slams this year. Plus 1500 points to the winner, while not as much as slams, is certainly nothing to sneeze at. IMO the YEC is important because it takes consistency throughout the season to get there. While at a slam somebody can win it while "treeing" in form - and then poop out for the rest of the season. Granted most people think YEC is the 5th most important tournament of the year.

I really liked the YEC when it was held in Singapore - the fan support there was excellent (even for doubles). It would be kind of an embarrasment for the WTA if the YEC in Shenzhen is not well attended. I kind of envision a half-full stadium for the doubles - but hope I'm wrong about that....

 

[Hugues Daniel]

In the past, winning the WTA Finals was almost as important as winning a Grand Slam. From 1972 to 2015, the tournament had always been won by Grand Slam champions, with only one exception in 1982. Three of the last four editions have been captured by slamless champions instead, which is certainly not a good sign:

You can still play the YEC of your dreams in your head. No need to make a thread about it.

Slamless players winning the YEC expose the limits of your standards. Other tennis fans totally enjoy the quality of this field. :wavey:

 

[HatersGoToHell]

It does hurt the tournament's credibility when Radwanska and Cibulkova win it with a 1-2 RR record.

The prize money increase is extraordinary as well. Half the field would struggle to sell out a 3000 seats stadium yet one of them may leave Shenzhen with the biggest cheque in tennis' history.

There are a lot of tournaments in other sports when you can lose a match or more, and win a whole tournament. Their wins were legit, so stay pressed.

As for ridiculous prize money in biggest tournaments not only in YEC, I agree with you.

 

[Pierre.]

Honestly it's only really declined in the last 5 years or so, mostly down to the atrocious mud-like court in Singapore that gave rise to shitfest after shitfest. It's important to have slower courts but we all know that the courts have been slowed down too much now and there isn't enough variety when it comes to court speed anymore. When you have 8 very elite but pretty tired tennis players, it is not a good idea to put them on what can only be described as one of the slowest courts of all time, where rallies are elongated to the point where quantity prevails over quality.

I agree that it might be an idea to stop the race after Beijing, to give the top 8 a bit more of a rest (at least this year they are finally holding it after Zhuhai so those who played Linz or Moscow aren't completely gassed) which could produce a better event. Singapore was well attended and is a beautiful place, but it was not a great period for the finals whatsoever. I'm hoping that Shenzhen will restore some of the prestige of this event but we'll have to wait and see.

 

[the mixer]

I've never been particularly interested in it.

Didn't follow WTA on a week-to-week basis prior to Singapore, and that was mostly boring AF.

It's never remotely had the significance of a slam, I'd even put it on a par with Indian Wells in terms of being the flagship WTA tournament. Who even remembers Radwanska and Cibulkova winning it? And Svitolina's triumph will be equally forgettable in the long term if she doesn't win a slam.

It would help enormously if it was held in Europe or the US regularly, but the WTA obviously sold it down the river for money for the forseeable. It might get decent crowds in Shenzen, because that's near Hong Kong which has a popular tournament, but in the long run unless a Chinese star comes through that could diminish too.