[coolfish1103]

This year's Tournament of Champions (TOC 2012) will be held in Sofia and no longer in Bali, and the play format will be Round Robin. According to the WTA handbook a total of 8 players will be allowed to play the tournament, with 2 additional players on the ALT list. Of the 8 players participating, at maximum 2 players may be selected by the tournament host as a Wild Card entry.

From Sofia's website, Tsvetana Pironkova will be receiving a Wild Card should she not get a direct entry. Also, Ana Ivanovic might receive a Wild Card being the Champion of last year in Bali.

Entry to Tournament of Champions will be based on the following criteria:

1. Player must win an International Tournament in 2012 (unless given a Wild Card).
2. Player must not be a direct acceptance to the Year End Championship.
3. Players sorted based on the ranking a week before the tournament.

As of August 20, 2012:

- This ranking will use the Race ranking for now.
- Players such as Petrova and Hantuchova have points from TOC last year that may count towards rankings this year that have not been taken into account.

-- Angelique Kerber     GER 4920  Copenhagen
-- Sara Errani          ITA 3820  4 INT
 1 Kaia Kanepi          EST 1659  Estoril
 2 Nadia Petrova        RUS 1543  's-Hertogenbosch
 3 Mona Barthel         GER 1388  Hobart
 4 Francesca Schiavone  ITA 1359  Strasbourg
 5 Daniela Hantuchova   SVK 1318  Pattaya City
 6 Alize Cornet         FRA 1183  Bad Gastein
 7 Zheng Jie            CHN 1162  Auckland
 8 Tsvetana Pironkova   BUL  943  Bulgaria Wild Card

A1 Sofia Arvidsson      SWE 1062  Memphis
A2 Hsieh Su-Wei         TPE  941  Kuala Lumpur

Ana Ivanovic may be a Wild Card candidate who will replace Zheng Jie and kick Hsieh Su-Wei out of the Alternative List.

There are 8 International Tournaments left.

 

[Sean.]

Does anyone else think it would be wrong to give Tsveti the WC?

I mean, it's understandable, given she's Bulgarian, but I don't really think a 'home bias' is appropriate at this type of tournament, considering the standard qualification criteria!

 

[edificio]

I really don't understand why they offer WCs for this tournament.

Anyway, I hope the court will be as fast as Bali's.

 

[KournikovaFan91]

I didn't oppose the WC give to Date in 2009 since she had won a title but then just expand the tournament by two places with no WC :shrug:

The tournament is a joke when you dish out WCs. The whole concept is then irrelevent and it becomes just an odd tournament with a strange entry requirement.

A play must either
A - Win an International Event
B - Be from host country (Pironkova)
C - Be pretty (Ana)

 

[coolfish1103]

already a thread

http://www.tennisforum.com/showthread.php?t=450215

I'll leave this thread as is if you are going to update your thread.

 

[Tenis Srbija]

I didn't oppose the WC give to Date in 2009 since she had won a title but then just expand the tournament by two places with no WC :shrug:

The tournament is a joke when you dish out WCs. The whole concept is then irrelevent and it becomes just an odd tournament with a strange entry requirement.

A play must either
A - Win an International Event
B - Be from host country (Pironkova)
C - Be DEFENDING CHAMPION who happens to be beautiful (Ana)

Corrected

 

[GoofyDuck]

I hope Jie makes it!

 

[ONS-GOAT]

Only chance for Ivanovic to win a title

 

[Yashal]

C'mon Mona
And I hope Kaia will be able to play

BTW, maybe TOC Goat won't be there this year , in that week she should be playing Fed Cup Final.

 

[Tenis Srbija]

Only chance for Ivanovic to win a title

She'll be to busy trying to win Fed Cup

 

[Lisickinator]

I like the idea of a Tournament of Champions in general. But they doin' it wrong.

- only 8 players?
- wild cards?
- only winners from internationals?
- round robin will lead to tanking and useless matches

 

[vexxx]

Are they even indoors?

Yep, it will be played indoors.