WTA Tour hypothetical: What if they had Next Gen Finals this year?
THE ATP Tour’s Next Gen Finals are a highly sought after event to show off the best young talent coming through the men’s competition. In past years, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Jannik Sinner have triumphed, leading them onto successful years the following seasons and beyond. As it stands, the WTA Tour does not have a Next […]
WTA Countdown: 2020 Top 5 Improvers – #5 Sofia Kenin
AS the WTA Tour comes to a close for the 2020 season, Draft Central is counting down the top five standout performers across a severely disrupted year who have stepped up to a new level since the Tour’s return. Coming in at number five is American Sofia Kenin who started her year on a high […]
Osaka’s call to action sees USTA halt W&S Open semi-finals
IN what was a huge decision for sport yesterday, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) postponed the Western and Southern Open tennis semi-finals in a political statement, standing up against racial injustice and police brutality. While Naomi Osaka was the first player to step forward and withdraw from competing, it was in solidarity with the […]
Mertens flexes muscles as top seed Pliskova has shock exit
ELISE Mertens has had a stunning opening round win at the Western & Southern Open, while number one seed Karolina Pliskova had a shock round one exit and Ons Jabeur and Vera Zvonareva have defied terrible opening sets to advance through on day four of the WTA Tour competition. Meanwhile the ATP Tour tournament saw the first […]
Form shows in New York as stacked qualifying draw gets underway
IT was a huge first day at the traditional Cincinnati Masters – moved to New York for COVID-19 reasons in the lead up to the United States – with the Western & Southern Open’s qualifying taking place in the women’s and men’s draws. Focusing the attention on the women’s draw, three of the top four […]
Trevisan destroys top seed in qualifying, becomes fifth Italian in Palermo
IT was an unsurprisingly bumpy start to the return of the WTA Tour at Palermo Ladies Open, but qualifying is now completed with the final 32 players determined ahead of main draw matches in just under 12 hours. Following the withdrawal of the top two ranked players – Simona Halep and Johanna Konta – as […]
WTA Tour returns: Who, where and when?
WHILE the world still battles the 2020 global pandemic that is COVID-19, it might be difficult to imagine an international sport that stretches every continent going ahead. But that is exactly the case for the WTA and ATP Tours that start in the next month. While the ATP Tour kicks off later in August, the […]
Opinion: What would a WTA Tour version of the Laver Cup (Williams Cup) look like?
IN yesterday’s opinion article, we took a look at the current format of the ATP Tour’s Laver Cup, a team tournament which pits Team Europe off against Team World. We analysed how the current method is not the best way to have the closest contest, and some alternatives that the Tour could look at to […]
Five ATP/WTA players who might have benefited from the Tour lockdown
NO ONE would have enjoyed not being able to play out the ATP and WTA Tours since March. But there might have been a select few for whom the break came at the perfect time be it through injury or form. Bianca Andreescu (CAN) Still ranked at number six in the world, the Canadian 20-year-old […]
WTA Fantasy Tennis Rankings post Miami Open: Osaka moves into top five as Hsieh, Kontaveit slide
IN an update to our fantasy tennis competition, we have adjusted the WTA Tour rankings accordingly following the conclusion of Miami Open. We will update both the ATP and WTA Tours once major tournaments are completed and name the key bolters and sliders since the last update. BOLTERS: Naomi Osaka +5 (#10 to #5) After […]
