How the 2009 WTA Tour calendar will change

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The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour revealed its new-look calendar for 2009 on Wednesday, which features a series of changes to the women’s tour.

View the 2009 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour calendar here

At the top of its wish list, the WTA says, is a schedule that creates a more fan-friendly structure, delivers the sport’s stars to the biggest events and reduces player withdrawals, a problem that has blighted the women’s tour in 2008.

“With the Roadmap reforms, 2009 will see the strongest women’s professional tennis product in the sport’s history,” said Larry Scott, CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

“Fans will be able to watch more stars and rivalries on the game’s biggest stages, and follow a shortened and streamlined season that unlocks the full value of women’s tennis.

“These reforms will help lift tennis as a whole to new heights.”

The headline changes to the women’s game next year are:

Four mandatory Premier events: Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and Beijing

Suspension system for Top-10 players who miss Premier tournaments and increased withdrawal fines

Twenty Premier events in total: Four mandatory, the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships and another 15, including $2 million tournaments in Dubai, Rome, Cincinnati, Toronto and Tokyo, and other top events in Paris, Charleston, Stuttgart, Stanford, Los Angeles, Sydney, Berlin, Eastbourne, New Haven and Moscow.

Off-season to be increased from seven to nine weeks – the calendar finishes at the end of October

Record prizemoney of over $86 million

Ten equal prizemoney tournaments

On-court coaching at all events (apart from grand slams)

Season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha

Seventeen combined events include Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing, Sydney, Moscow, Eastbourne, New Haven, Brisbane, s’Hertogenbosch, Estoril, Memphis and Acapulco, along with the four grand slams

New tournaments in Madrid, Brisbane, Monterrey, Ponte Vedra Beach, Bastad, Warsaw and Osaka

Greater focus on tennis in China – major tour presence and expansion into China market, with China Open as one of the four cornerstones of the Roadmap calendar, and a new Asia-Pacific Tour HQ in Beijing

Rankings to be determined by a player’s best 16 results and introduction of “zero pointers” for any missed Premier commitment tournament, grand slam or the Sony Ericsson Championships

Fans' Comments

Add your own remarks below

CalamityJane Sep 4, 03:15 PM

Serena and Venus are going to have a tough decision to make under the new system…they haven’t played at Indian Wells, one of the new mandatory tournaments, since 2001, so if they miss it again this year, they’ll also miss Miami, one of their favourite events, which they’ve won an incredible 8 times between them….

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