WTA on TV and Stream

Historical Background

Founded in 1972, The Woman’s Tennis Association or WTA, is the main organisation that organises woman’s professional tennis. Their goal predominantly is to create a better future for women's tennis, and currently, with it being considered more competitive than the male game, it certainly is achieving that goal.

In this role, they serve the dual purpose of both monitoring the woman’s professional athletes and ranking them accordingly, as well as hosting a series of events throughout the calendar year, known as the WTA Tour. As well as being are some of the most popular tennis events of the year, they are also some of the most watched live sports on tv events overall.

Ranking Methods

With so much talent in women's game, the WTA devised a method by which to rank the players via their performances in competitions across the year. The ranking method used is based on a point system, by which players are measured on their performance in a total of 27 tournaments that take place across the calendar year, both singles and doubles, which are applicable to WTA. 

The further a player progresses through a tournament, the more points they get in, with bigger events taking precedence and thus, players earn more points for good performances in these. For example, achieving a Grand Slam or success in the WTA finals will score you a large number of points. As well as this, there are also head to head rankings which contribute to a player’s overall score.

Memorable TV Moments/Wins

The ATP Tour has played host to some very intriguing and exciting moments over the years watched by thousands of fans of tennis on tv. This is natural when it comes to the best of the best in the women's tennis world. A few of our favourites moments over are: 

Osaka Becoming First Japanese Grand Slam Winner

The young Japanese contender, Naomi Osaka, upset the odds and amazed US Open on tv views by beating tennis legend Serena Williams in the 2018 US Open Final by 6–2, 6–4. This made her the first ever able-bodied Japanese Grand Slam Winner, after a previous win at Indian Wells Open a few months prior. Although there was some controversy due to a dispute between William’s and the Umpire which led to Osaka's victory becoming overshadowed, it was still a fantastic moment for the current world number 1.

The Serena Slam 

Serena Williams has a had a glittering career, but one moment that stands out most was during the 2015 season, where she achieved a Serena Slam, better known as a Golden Slam. Which means she won the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open all in one season. Although she wasn’t the first to do it, due to her notoriety and domination of the sport over the last 10 years, it sticks out in the memory as one of the greatest moments in tennis.

Graff Vs Navratilova French Open 1987

An epic rivalry between German, Graff and Czechoslovak, Navratilova was on-going for years. However, this match saw the turning point during an enthralling match of tennis that really could have gone either way. In the end, it was the German who dethroned the Queen and then went on to conquer her whole generation, still holding the record for longest stay at the top of the WTP Rankings with 377 weeks in total.

Key Players

To watch this year, will definitely have to once again be Serena Williams, who will be looking for redemption following her last year’s upset and to get herself back to the number one spot. She already holds the record for most Grand Slam wins with 39 and with not many years left in her, she will be hoping to get the most out of what she can in the time she has remaining.

Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka will be looking to break some more records of her own this year following her making history last year by winning Japan’s first Grand Slam. She is still at just 21 years old, so no doubt she will be setting numerous other records before long.

Due to domination from a select few woman’s players over the years and the rankings being very tight, the competition is wide open. We could be set to see some new record breakers and players who are looking to rise up the ranks and make themselves known this year.