The WTA Finals could be turned into a 16-player draw, according to the director of the ST. Petersburg Open.
Alexander Medvedev is hoping that the year-end tournament will be moved to Russia after Singapore from 2019 onwards. Speaking about his country’s bid over the weekend, he confirmed that there is a chance the size of the draw could be expended. Currently the eight highest ranked players participate and the field is split into two groups for the round robin format. The prize money pool for the 2016 tournament was $7 million.
“We will meet with representatives of the WTA in Singapore at the Final tournament. The format is not defined yet. We expressed our opinion that the format for 16 players is not appropriate.” Medvedev told Russian media.
“If you do 12, you have to invent something interesting. Tennis is a conservative sport, but innovation is needed everywhere.”
It is unclear as to how likely the expansion will take place. So far, there has been no official word from the WTA regarding the move. The tournament have always remained an eight-player draw since it was created in the 1970s.
Singapore has hosted the event since 2014, but their contract expires next year. Since the induction of the event in 1973, it has been held across the world in ten different cities. New York is the only place to have hosted the event on two separate occasions.
Besides St. Petersburg, Manchester in England and a trio of cities in Asia have also expressed interest in hosting the event. Medvedev believes that a formal announcement of the new host will be made in February.
This year’s WTA Finals will take place between October 22-29. Dominika Cibulkova is the defending champion, but she is currently not in a place to qualify for the event. Only the top eight players in the Porsche Road to Singapore will qualify.
