WTA:- Inconsistency Is A Blessing In Disguise

Tennis was perceived as a sport where few players happen to dominate the sport and the changing times have reshaped the perspective of tennis. In the first quarter of the year 2019, WTA recorded fourteen different champions in the fourteen different tournaments. The results have shown the profoundness in the sport. It depicts the diversity of the sport and how athletes with different skillset are deserved to be a champion. Presently, there are five or six players on the WTA list who are grappling to seize the World Number one spot.

While speaking to Tennis Channel, the WTA CEO, Steve Simon was interrogated upon his opinion on the present parity in tennis and having an unrivalled player who is controlling the sport. “It is fun. That is one of the great conversations in the sport. You get the dynasties or the teams or players that dominate,” Steve Simon said. “Then you get, all of a sudden the parity, as you said, we had fourteen different (champions). And you have a different storyline every year.”

Be it a Sunday’s champion, losing her next match on Monday or Naomi Osaka losing her first match has World Number one tennis player, it illustrates the ability of a WTA player to outperform the champion or the World Number one. WTA’s heterogeneity motivates each player to push themselves to their next level of tennis. During tournaments when seeded players are knocked down in the early rounds and unseeded players prevail till the quarters or the semifinals, this aspect hugely contributes towards the mixture of talent available in WTA. 

The prevailing inconsistency in the circuit has certainly bestowed players of all kinds to the circuit. Like Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova are aggressive at the baseline. Carla Suarez-Navarro is a serve-and-volleyer. Caroline Wozniacki is a pusher and has a game of impeccable defensive style tennis. Petra Kvitova is all-courter. Belinda Bencic is flat hitter and Hsieh Su-Wei creatively hits flat with both her hands on the racquet. 

WTA’s inconsistency brings the maximum number of tennis players into the limelight and that excites the tennis fans as they witness an assortment in the game. Additionally, the renewed changes in the sport with time ensures the evolution of tennis. Unlike, in ATP tennis where Grand Slam titles keep circulating within the ‘Big Three’ of tennis, different players of WTA get an opportunity to play big matches in the major and Masters events. 

“My personal opinion its (tennis) going to evolve,” the WTA CEO continues. “There will be a player at some point steps up and rise above the competition. From our standpoint, I love it, because it shows how deep our product is. And what I think, what’s great on the storyline is you don’t know who is going to win each week”.

“Also you have now seen great fluctuations in the rankings, we have five or six players who are fighting for number one and that’s a great story”. Steve Simon mentioned the Canadian, Bianca Andresscu’s recent success who climbed up the ladder from World Number 60 to 23 by lifting up the Indian Wells title as a wildcard entrant. “I think it’s really exciting and really showing the depth and how competitive this tour is right now”, he mentioned.

Later, he spoke about the renaissance of the sport of tennis, where three different generations of tennis are competing on a global platform. The 15-year-old budding face of WTA, Cori Gauff shares the dais with her idol, the 37-year-old Serena Williams who is a legend of the sport. Also, the players in their twenties, Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova competing on the same platform as them.