This year is the first time since 2006 where all of the participants at the WTA Finals are from the same continent due to the withdrawal of Serena Williams.
Eight European players are currently battling against each other at the $7,000,000 event hosted at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Currently there are 76 top 100 players on the WTA Tour from Europe, 9 of which are ranked inside the top ten. Speaking about this year’s European dominated tournament, world No.6 Agnieszka Radwanska put the high presence of Europeans down to the popularity of the sport in the continent.
“I guess in Europe, tennis is a very big sport. A lot of people are playing tennis. I think that’s why we can see a lot of players from Europe, of course. In the States also tennis is huge”. She said.
Radwanska also spoke about the growing popularity of tennis outside of Europe. In China it is the third most popular sport and in Australia it is the seventh most popular sport with 471,000 regular participants according to figures provided by Roy Morgan Research.
“I think, anyway, tennis is getting bigger and bigger everywhere, Asia as well. It’s really good to see that. Also, we can see a lot of players from different countries all the time. That’s good”. Radwanska told reporters in Singapore.
Since 2000 the WTA Finals have been won nine times by Europeans and six times by North American’s. This year will be the first time that a European woman has won the title since Petra Kvitova in 2011.
2006 European entrants
Amélie Mauresmo FRA
Maria Sharapova RUS
Justine Henin-Hardenne BEL
Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS
Nadia Petrova RUS
Kim Clijsters BEL
Elena Dementieva RUS
Martina Hingis SWI
2015 European entrants
Simona Halep ROM
Garbiñe Muguruza ESP
Maria Sharapova RUS
Petra Kvitová CZE
Agnieszka Radwańska POL
Angelique Kerber GER
Flavia Pennetta ITA
Lucie Šafářová CZE
