"Tennis at the top isn't so much fun as it is very difficult work. It requires incredible sacrifice in all aspects of life, a travel schedule that only the most dedicated can endure, and constant practice and competition. Once you commit to the tour, you really are committing to a full-time job and an enormous physical and emotional strain. It's tough to be out there competing. And particularly if you're at the top of the game, the pressure on you is exceedingly greater," it was explained.
CBS reported in 1992, "The US Open is the 4th and final Grand Slam event of the year and for many the most difficult two weeks to endure and win. Scant miles from Manhattan, the Open offers potpourri of distractions that can sidetrack players. Even just getting to the National Tennis Center can be a supreme test. Things don't get much easier once on the premises.
"One of the big annoyances is noise and it can arrive in a variety of forms. There are fans wanting autographs and those that will trail the player to the car. And the customary hecklers in the stand. There are the press people; the rigour of nature and plenty of excuses for losing your edge. Some players bask comfortably in the energetic conditions, others need to adjust. Perhaps the best advise you can give is to expect the unexpected."
Charles Bricker of the 'Sun Sentinel' reported on how Arantxa Sanchez Vicario came to win the 1994 Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island in Florida: "Arantxa Sanchez Vicario had been fighting emotions all week. First, her own. Her father, Emilio, has a heart attack but is out of danger. Then, the crowds. Despite defeating Gabriela Sabatini and Martina Navratilova on successive days without the loss of a set, she was never the audience favorite.
"She has neither Navratilova's legacy nor Sabatini's flair, and that, unfortunately, still seems to matter more to paying customers than the quality of her tennis. This lack of respect chiseled at her pride a bit, but she refused to let it get under her skin. Not this week, anyway, when she had more on her mind than her place in contemporary tennis history. As she accepted her winner's check for $80,000, Sanchez Vicario gave the crowd of 5,000 a little dig.
"'I know you were for Martina yesterday and Gaby today, but that's all right,' she said. It wasn't malicious, but she made her point. Maybe the honchos at ESPN were listening. Despite being the top seed and defending champion, Sanchez Vicario couldn't get on a telecast here until she played Navratilova. Everyone, including Sanchez Vicario, knew why she made TV that day. 'I don't mind,' she said. 'Everyone wants to see Martina for the last time and Gaby has been playing here many years.'"
At the Citizen Cup tennis tournament held in Hamburg, Germany in 1994, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario fought off a match point at 5-2 in the second set to defeat Steffi Graf 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (8-6) in 3 hours and 3 minutes. She told the press, "This is my biggest win since the French Open 5 years ago (in 1989). It's even better because Steffi had so many chances. I'm not going to give up on any point."
Steffi Graf conceded, "I'm disappointed beyond measure at the way I lost the match. I just can't allow myself to give away a match like that." Steffi Graf also battled back from 1-5 and 3-6 down in the deciding-set tiebreaker. The tournament in Hamburg was held 18 times between 1982 and 2002. Steffi Graf reached the singles final 8 times, winning 6 times in a row.
Since the dawn of the Open tennis era in 1968, Martina Navratilova had won 167 singles titles (from 1,442 matches played) in a career on the regular tour spanning 22 years (1973-1994). Of those 167 titles, 149 were outside the Grand Slams. Martina Navratilova's overall career winning percentage was 86.82 and 85.90% in the majors events.
Chris Evert won 157 singles titles (from 1,455 matches played) over 17 years (December 1972-1989): 139 were non-Grand-Slams titles. Chris Evert's total matches winning percentage was 89.97 and 88.70% in Grand Slam matches. Steffi Graf won 107 singles titles (from 1,017 matches played) over 17 years (1982-1999): 85 titles were outside the Grand Slams. Steffi Graf's overall winning percentage was 88.69.
In September 2008, Larry Scott of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour spoke to the press about Roadmap 2009, an internal discussion about reform to the tennis calendar.
Larry Scott: … So it was in November 2003, (at) our Championships in Los Angeles, that I met with the top eight players in the world and our board and said, 'If we're serious about embarking on a change, it's going to take some time. We're going to have to do it in an inclusive, collaborative way. It will have to be evolution more than revolution.' Those were the foundations behind the Roadmap.
... There are really four baskets of initiatives under the Roadmap that I'd like to outline for you. First is the things we're doing to ensure a healthier calendar for the players. The second is those things that we're doing to reorganize the calendar so that it's streamlined, enhanced, and more valuable, and will position the tour to grow with our fans and commercial partners. Third are initiatives to greater align with men's tennis and the ATP. The fourth basket of those things that we're doing in areas of innovation that are really firsts in our sport.
First in terms of a healthier calendar, we've long coveted a longer off-season, and we'll have that next year (2009) with the end-of-year Championships ending at the end of October. We'll be up to a nine-week off-season for the players, which is two more weeks than what we have today. We're going to reduce the amount players are required to play by the tour. Traditionally they're required to play 13 tournaments on top of the Grand Slams. That number will be down to 10 tournaments next year (2009).
There will be a limitation on how many smaller tournaments the top 10 players can play, because we want them playing on the biggest stages. We've also made some reorganization of the calendar so that the players have to change surfaces less often, less indoor to outdoor, less hardcourt to clay, and vice versa, because our medical people have told us that's one of the leading contributors to injury, is changing surfaces and conditions.
So that really was the starting point and the cornerstone for the Roadmap. If our players aren't healthy and able to compete throughout the year, able to compete at their best at the biggest moments, we felt that women's tennis wasn't going to reach its potential. So the healthier calendar is, for me, probably the most important long-term aspect of what we're doing.
Secondly, we are reformatting the calendar in a way that we think will be more compelling to fans and to our media partners that follow the sport by streamlining the top number of tournaments from 26 Tier 1 and Tier 2 tournaments we have today down to 20, what we're calling Premier Level Tournaments. The anchors of these 20 premier tournaments will be four mandatory combined equal prize money tournaments, in Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and Beijing. Those will be $4.5 million in prize money, which is an unprecedented level of prize money for our players.
To put that in perspective, our single highest prize money tournament in 2007 was the Miami tournament at $3.7 million in prize money. The next highest was Indian Wells at $2.1 million in prize money. So all four of those tournaments going up to $4.5 million in prize money. A significant increase there, which is really sort of proving the proposition that when the best men and best women play together on the biggest stages, there is untapped value for the sport.
Aside from those four premier mandatory tournaments, we have 15 other premier tournaments, and then 30 international tournaments on the tour. So in total, we still will have 55 tournaments. A very similar number, but we've had to streamline a little bit to end the season a little bit earlier. Another new feature of the calendar is in addition to the end-of-year Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, we'll have the first ever year-end Championships for our international level tournaments.
You'll see in the calendars ... we've tried to simplify the presentation of the calendar to premier level tournaments on the left-hand side, international tournaments on the right-hand side. We felt that it's important that those international tournaments are something they're leading towards as well, so you'll see a tournament in Bali, Indonesia at the end of the calendar, and that will be for the top 12 ranked winners of international tournaments during the year.
It won't be the same players that are playing in Doha. If you play in Doha, that's your end-of-year season Championship. But if you didn't qualify for Doha and you won one of those international tournaments during the year, we'll hopefully see those players in Bali. Prize money on the tour is going up substantially from a little bit over $71 million this year to over $85 million next year.
To put that in perspective from 2006 to 2009, that will represent a 40% prize money increase for the players. There's also record investment in new facilities. Amongst those four premier mandatory tournaments next year, Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and Beijing, two of those, Madrid and Beijing, are brand new facilities. Madrid the tennis world hasn't seen yet.
The Magic Box I think will be the most spectacular new tennis stadium, maybe sports facility, in the world next year. Three retractable roofs on some spectacular land in Madrid. Our Beijing tournament at the end of the year will be in the new Olympic tennis venue that some of you would have had a chance to see during the Olympics. Tying all this together will be a revised ranking system.
… Third basket I alluded to was coordination with other governing bodies, and particularly alignment with the ATP ... But when you look at our 2009 calendar, there are some important things that stand out, in my opinion. First is that we're up to a record number of tournaments that are combined or back to back with the ATP. 46% of the tournaments on our tour next year are aligned with the ATP, either back to back or combined, including the top 13 events in tennis are now going to be combined or aligned.
If you take the four Grand Slams, our four premier mandatory tournaments, Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing. And then out next five biggest premier tournaments, $2 million tournaments in Dubai, Rome, Canada, Cincinnati, and Tokyo. They're all back to back or combined. In fact, we've previously announced with the ATP that we have a plan for Rome, Canada, and Cincinnati to go from back to back to combined by 2011.
So as you'll see, there has been a pretty steady migration toward presentation of the sport with the best men and women together on the biggest stages, obviously led by the Grand Slams. I think some of this development really pays homage to all that the Grand Slams have done for the sport. They clearly draw the most fans in, they're the biggest moments in our sport. So finding more moments during the year where we see the best of the best from both tours in the great cities, in the great venues, is something that we're following.
... Lastly, there are a few firsts in tennis, new innovation and I think some ground-breaking developments I want to draw your attention to. First, revenue sharing. I think women's tennis will become the first sport, the first individual sport ever, to have a revenue sharing agreement between our tournament promoters on the one hand and the players on another hand … And through the formula that's been developed, basically as tournament revenues increase, prize money will increase by a similar percentage. So if over the years tournament revenues decline, player prize money will decline, but not go below a certain minimum.
"One of the big annoyances is noise and it can arrive in a variety of forms. There are fans wanting autographs and those that will trail the player to the car. And the customary hecklers in the stand. There are the press people; the rigour of nature and plenty of excuses for losing your edge. Some players bask comfortably in the energetic conditions, others need to adjust. Perhaps the best advise you can give is to expect the unexpected."
Charles Bricker of the 'Sun Sentinel' reported on how Arantxa Sanchez Vicario came to win the 1994 Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island in Florida: "Arantxa Sanchez Vicario had been fighting emotions all week. First, her own. Her father, Emilio, has a heart attack but is out of danger. Then, the crowds. Despite defeating Gabriela Sabatini and Martina Navratilova on successive days without the loss of a set, she was never the audience favorite.
"She has neither Navratilova's legacy nor Sabatini's flair, and that, unfortunately, still seems to matter more to paying customers than the quality of her tennis. This lack of respect chiseled at her pride a bit, but she refused to let it get under her skin. Not this week, anyway, when she had more on her mind than her place in contemporary tennis history. As she accepted her winner's check for $80,000, Sanchez Vicario gave the crowd of 5,000 a little dig.
"'I know you were for Martina yesterday and Gaby today, but that's all right,' she said. It wasn't malicious, but she made her point. Maybe the honchos at ESPN were listening. Despite being the top seed and defending champion, Sanchez Vicario couldn't get on a telecast here until she played Navratilova. Everyone, including Sanchez Vicario, knew why she made TV that day. 'I don't mind,' she said. 'Everyone wants to see Martina for the last time and Gaby has been playing here many years.'"
At the Citizen Cup tennis tournament held in Hamburg, Germany in 1994, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario fought off a match point at 5-2 in the second set to defeat Steffi Graf 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (8-6) in 3 hours and 3 minutes. She told the press, "This is my biggest win since the French Open 5 years ago (in 1989). It's even better because Steffi had so many chances. I'm not going to give up on any point."
Steffi Graf conceded, "I'm disappointed beyond measure at the way I lost the match. I just can't allow myself to give away a match like that." Steffi Graf also battled back from 1-5 and 3-6 down in the deciding-set tiebreaker. The tournament in Hamburg was held 18 times between 1982 and 2002. Steffi Graf reached the singles final 8 times, winning 6 times in a row.
Since the dawn of the Open tennis era in 1968, Martina Navratilova had won 167 singles titles (from 1,442 matches played) in a career on the regular tour spanning 22 years (1973-1994). Of those 167 titles, 149 were outside the Grand Slams. Martina Navratilova's overall career winning percentage was 86.82 and 85.90% in the majors events.
Chris Evert won 157 singles titles (from 1,455 matches played) over 17 years (December 1972-1989): 139 were non-Grand-Slams titles. Chris Evert's total matches winning percentage was 89.97 and 88.70% in Grand Slam matches. Steffi Graf won 107 singles titles (from 1,017 matches played) over 17 years (1982-1999): 85 titles were outside the Grand Slams. Steffi Graf's overall winning percentage was 88.69.
In September 2008, Larry Scott of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour spoke to the press about Roadmap 2009, an internal discussion about reform to the tennis calendar.
Larry Scott: … So it was in November 2003, (at) our Championships in Los Angeles, that I met with the top eight players in the world and our board and said, 'If we're serious about embarking on a change, it's going to take some time. We're going to have to do it in an inclusive, collaborative way. It will have to be evolution more than revolution.' Those were the foundations behind the Roadmap.
... There are really four baskets of initiatives under the Roadmap that I'd like to outline for you. First is the things we're doing to ensure a healthier calendar for the players. The second is those things that we're doing to reorganize the calendar so that it's streamlined, enhanced, and more valuable, and will position the tour to grow with our fans and commercial partners. Third are initiatives to greater align with men's tennis and the ATP. The fourth basket of those things that we're doing in areas of innovation that are really firsts in our sport.
First in terms of a healthier calendar, we've long coveted a longer off-season, and we'll have that next year (2009) with the end-of-year Championships ending at the end of October. We'll be up to a nine-week off-season for the players, which is two more weeks than what we have today. We're going to reduce the amount players are required to play by the tour. Traditionally they're required to play 13 tournaments on top of the Grand Slams. That number will be down to 10 tournaments next year (2009).
There will be a limitation on how many smaller tournaments the top 10 players can play, because we want them playing on the biggest stages. We've also made some reorganization of the calendar so that the players have to change surfaces less often, less indoor to outdoor, less hardcourt to clay, and vice versa, because our medical people have told us that's one of the leading contributors to injury, is changing surfaces and conditions.
So that really was the starting point and the cornerstone for the Roadmap. If our players aren't healthy and able to compete throughout the year, able to compete at their best at the biggest moments, we felt that women's tennis wasn't going to reach its potential. So the healthier calendar is, for me, probably the most important long-term aspect of what we're doing.
Secondly, we are reformatting the calendar in a way that we think will be more compelling to fans and to our media partners that follow the sport by streamlining the top number of tournaments from 26 Tier 1 and Tier 2 tournaments we have today down to 20, what we're calling Premier Level Tournaments. The anchors of these 20 premier tournaments will be four mandatory combined equal prize money tournaments, in Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and Beijing. Those will be $4.5 million in prize money, which is an unprecedented level of prize money for our players.
To put that in perspective, our single highest prize money tournament in 2007 was the Miami tournament at $3.7 million in prize money. The next highest was Indian Wells at $2.1 million in prize money. So all four of those tournaments going up to $4.5 million in prize money. A significant increase there, which is really sort of proving the proposition that when the best men and best women play together on the biggest stages, there is untapped value for the sport.
Aside from those four premier mandatory tournaments, we have 15 other premier tournaments, and then 30 international tournaments on the tour. So in total, we still will have 55 tournaments. A very similar number, but we've had to streamline a little bit to end the season a little bit earlier. Another new feature of the calendar is in addition to the end-of-year Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, we'll have the first ever year-end Championships for our international level tournaments.
You'll see in the calendars ... we've tried to simplify the presentation of the calendar to premier level tournaments on the left-hand side, international tournaments on the right-hand side. We felt that it's important that those international tournaments are something they're leading towards as well, so you'll see a tournament in Bali, Indonesia at the end of the calendar, and that will be for the top 12 ranked winners of international tournaments during the year.
It won't be the same players that are playing in Doha. If you play in Doha, that's your end-of-year season Championship. But if you didn't qualify for Doha and you won one of those international tournaments during the year, we'll hopefully see those players in Bali. Prize money on the tour is going up substantially from a little bit over $71 million this year to over $85 million next year.
To put that in perspective from 2006 to 2009, that will represent a 40% prize money increase for the players. There's also record investment in new facilities. Amongst those four premier mandatory tournaments next year, Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and Beijing, two of those, Madrid and Beijing, are brand new facilities. Madrid the tennis world hasn't seen yet.
The Magic Box I think will be the most spectacular new tennis stadium, maybe sports facility, in the world next year. Three retractable roofs on some spectacular land in Madrid. Our Beijing tournament at the end of the year will be in the new Olympic tennis venue that some of you would have had a chance to see during the Olympics. Tying all this together will be a revised ranking system.
… Third basket I alluded to was coordination with other governing bodies, and particularly alignment with the ATP ... But when you look at our 2009 calendar, there are some important things that stand out, in my opinion. First is that we're up to a record number of tournaments that are combined or back to back with the ATP. 46% of the tournaments on our tour next year are aligned with the ATP, either back to back or combined, including the top 13 events in tennis are now going to be combined or aligned.
If you take the four Grand Slams, our four premier mandatory tournaments, Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing. And then out next five biggest premier tournaments, $2 million tournaments in Dubai, Rome, Canada, Cincinnati, and Tokyo. They're all back to back or combined. In fact, we've previously announced with the ATP that we have a plan for Rome, Canada, and Cincinnati to go from back to back to combined by 2011.
So as you'll see, there has been a pretty steady migration toward presentation of the sport with the best men and women together on the biggest stages, obviously led by the Grand Slams. I think some of this development really pays homage to all that the Grand Slams have done for the sport. They clearly draw the most fans in, they're the biggest moments in our sport. So finding more moments during the year where we see the best of the best from both tours in the great cities, in the great venues, is something that we're following.
... Lastly, there are a few firsts in tennis, new innovation and I think some ground-breaking developments I want to draw your attention to. First, revenue sharing. I think women's tennis will become the first sport, the first individual sport ever, to have a revenue sharing agreement between our tournament promoters on the one hand and the players on another hand … And through the formula that's been developed, basically as tournament revenues increase, prize money will increase by a similar percentage. So if over the years tournament revenues decline, player prize money will decline, but not go below a certain minimum.
