Towards the WTA Finals, here’s who’s risking the most

It opened at the end of 2019 and is known to music lovers with concerts by Paul McCartney and Case, The state-of-the-art Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, will host the 8 best tennis players on the WTA Finals circuit who return to the United States after 17 years. From October 31 to November 7, the arena’s indoor concrete awaits the candidates to lift the coveted trophy, but so far, the games that will receive participation in the rich event – a prize money of $ 5 million – are still open.

Two crucial tournaments: the 500 in San Diego, taking place this week and can guarantee the winner 470 points, and the 1,000 in Guadalajara (which, however, will award only 900 points, not ‘mandatory’), scheduled for this week. next one. Thus, the available booty is large: 1370 points. That’s why seventeen of the top 20 players in the WTA rankings will try to collect the last precious points to reach the Texas Championships.

He reached the finals last year in Guadalajara, then the home of the WTA Finals (when he lost to Garbine Muguruza), Anett Kontaveit is perhaps the most striking case because despite currently taking third place in the world, the 26-year-old Estonian is only 14th in the race., is far from an improbable qualification – but not impossible. The same difficulties also for Paula Padusa. The Spaniard, currently ranked fourth in the world, is 12th in the race with 2,264 points and needs two exploits points to snatch qualification.

Maria Scari, Arina Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Caroline Garcia Complete the top ten players who, after playing in San Diego, will travel to Mexico to grab the pass for the Finals. The last player to qualify so far will be 25-year-old Russian Veronika Kudretova, ninth with 2,606 points, and that’s because as we’ve known for some time, Simona Halep, currently eight, after having a nose job, gave up for the rest of the year. A fundamental concession, for the 31-year-old Romanian, to many players trying to snatch eighth and final place in the finishes.

Garbine Muguruza, currently n. 13 in the world, she is among the former Grand Slam champions who have no hope of qualifying. Like her, among the other Grand Slam champions who joined the list of participants in Mexico are Victoria Azarenka (Australian Open 2012 and 2013), Bianca Andreescu (US Open 2019) and Sofia Kenin (Australian Open 2020, today dropped to 194th place). .from the order).

The winner of Roland Garros 2021 still has a chance Barbora Krejsikova, who last week managed to win the championship in Ostrava(earned 470 points and rose to 1849), 32-year-old Czech – two-time Church Road Queen – Petra Kvitova (2038 points) and 2017 Prolan Garros winner Jelena Ostapenko (1882 points).

If Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina (1830 points), as well as former world number one Karolina Pliskova, have no hope of participating in the finals, the 2022 Australian Open finalist can still do so. Danielle Collins, Daria Kasatkina, Veronika Kudretova, Beatrice Haddad Maya, Madison Keys and last year’s Olympic champion Belinda BencicAll Top 20 are already registered in Guadalajara.

Those who can already book the flight to Fort Worth, having crossed the threshold of 3230 points needed so far to ensure qualification, They are world number 1 Iga Swatik, Wimbledon, US Open final runner-up Jaber, and 28-year-old American Jessica Pegola. For Jabeur, it will be the first appearance in the season-ending tournament and the second for Swiatek. “I’m really excited – said the 21-year-old Polish – to qualify for the WTA Finals this year for the second time in my career and can’t wait to play in front of the Fort Worth fans.”

Needless to say, the underdogs are all for IgA. Swiatek has won seven titles this season (Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart, AS Roma, Roland Garros, US Open), Six of them in 37 consecutive games from February to July. His enviable record this year is 60 wins and 8 losses. An amazing season, wow, was certainly favored also by Ashley Barty’s withdrawal, allowing her to take the world number one spot on April 4th, thus becoming the 28th woman to climb to number one.

Iga will close the season after the finals as He has already announced that he will miss the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, the previous FA Cup Final scheduled in Glasgow from 8 to 13 November, In arguing with the organizations governing tennis “for not being able – it was the Polish woman who wrote – to come to an agreement on such a preliminary issue as the tournament calendar, giving us only one day to move from one part of the world, is a precarious situation for our health”.