The stars of the WTA at the official draw ceremony
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Today marks the first day of the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, the WTA's season ending crown jewel, which brings together the top singles players and doubles teams of the year. Here are a few bits and bobbles in the run-up to the season finale…
Surviving adversity
The preparations for Istanbul's first stint as host of the year-end Championships were dealt a bit of a shudder when the 7.2 earthquake hit the Van region of Eastern Turkey on Sunday morning, as almost 1,000 buildings collapsed killing hundreds. With the players sending their best wishes to all those affected, the official player party and various other promotional activities were cancelled.
Old vs new
The week's field of eight players, seven of whom are from different nations, has quite an eclectic mix of year-end championships' experience. Top of the list is Maria Sharapova, who is making her fifth appearance, and won the whole thing in 2004. Next is Vera Zvonareva, who is on visit number four, then Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka both on number three, Sam Stosur is on appearance number two, and Agnieszka Radwanska is making her first proper visit, although she appeared as an alternate in 2008 and 2009. And there are two total first-timers – Petra Kvitova and Li Na.
Azarenka, Li and Stosur are joined by Sharapova in what is the White group, while Wozniacki, Radwanska, Zvonareva and Kvitova make up the Red group.
Boys in town
The WTA's leading ladies were joined by two sporting gods (forgive the artistic licence) over the weekend in the form of Rory McIlroy, Wozniacki's beau, and Sasha Vujacic, Sharapova's fiancee. Rory's visit was fleeting as he had to disappear back to the golfing world, but Sasha will be a more permanent fixture, which is good news for those wanting fist-pumping tips. He's playing for a Turkish basketball team during the NBA off-season, although is apparently nursing a broken finger.
Breezy in the Bosphorus
Gusty breezes are certainly not lacking in the straights of the Bosphorus, to the extent that Sunday's draw had its very own natural wind machine for the official photos of Sharapova and co. It's just as well the tennis is indoors, as otherwise we'd be seeing a lot of ball tosses.
Turkish people like…
Banks, barber shops and screeching tyres. And meat. Lots of it.
Here to stay
Congratulations to WTA CEO Stacey Allaster, who has signed on for another five years as the proverbial mother hen of women's tennis. May her hard work continue.
Joining up?
The jury still seems to be out on combined events and whether they work or not, but that hasn't stopped Allaster floating the idea that the WTA and ATP could look to hold their season-enders together. How it would work with the calendar, of course, remains to be seen, but it's an interesting proposition, and is all part of the drive towards greater cooperation. She also mentioned that the tours are seeking to align their broadcast rights from 2017.
Today's round robin matches
Petra Kvitova v Vera Zvonareva (Red group)
The honour of opening the very first WTA Championships in Turkey goes to Petra Kvitova, making her season finale debut. The wimbledon champion hasn't exactly been firing on all cylinders since shocking Maria Sharapova to win Wimbledon. But she's dusted off her groundstrokes a bit in recent weeks, and received a huge confidence boost after winning Linz two weeks ago. That, and the way her game works on hard courts, has prompted the bookies to list the 21 year-old, newly invested as world No 3, as the favourite. But she'll have her work cut out against Vera Zvonareva, the epitome of hard court defence. Kvitova should edge it in two close sets to narrow her losing record against the Russian.
Caroline Wozniacki v Agnieszka Radwanska (Red group)
The battle of the Polish-borns. Wozniacki has her sights on that year-end No 1 ranking, but to get there, she'll have to do what she does best – stay solid from the back. She leads the head to head against her good buddy 4-1 but Radwanska is coming off a two-title tear in Tokyo and Beijing, and has lost just one match since the US Open. Still, a well-rested Wozniacki should be able to handle whatever comes out of the Radwanska tool kit.
Maria Sharapova v Samantha Stosur (White group)
As Sam rather cheerily aluded to, the Australian doesn't have the best record against the multi-Grand Slam champ. Stosur is yet to win a set in her nine previous meetings with the Russian, but all eyes will be on Sharapova's ankle, and whether it can stand up to shuttling side to side along the baseline in the face of Stosur's power. If she plays the sort of first-strike tennis that won her the US Open title, the Aussie has a shot. Still, if Sharapova's back in the zone after an extended break since Tokyo, it's likely to go her way.
Catch phrase
"East meets West"
You'll be hearing it a lot.
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