The WTA used to have a seemingly comprehensive tournament system. There were five tiers of tournaments, and each of those tiers was given a corresponding numeral from one to five. Total prize money determined the tier. Tier I tournaments gave out the most prize money while Tier V tournaments gave out the least. Sounds easy right? In fact, it was pretty complicated. There were multiple categories of each tier, and each was based on two things- total prize money and number of entrants. The WTA decided to change this system, and in 2009, it started to use a new system. The new system is quite confusing for many people, but if you read on, you'll find that it isn't hard to understand at all. It's actually quite like the old tier system.
Obviously the biggest tournaments of the year are the majors. There are four majors, the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. The winner of a major will receive 2000 ranking points.
After the majors, the biggest tournament is the Year End Championships. The location of this tournament changes every few years. This year, the YEC will be held in Istanbul. The YEC is a complicated tournament. The top eight players qualify and are broken into two groups of four. The players play round robin matches against the other three players in their group and the top two players from each group go onto the semifinals. The top player from each group plays the second player from the other group. At the semifinals, it's one loss and you're out. The ranking points are kind of odd in the YEC. You gain points for each round robin match you win and each draw match. By making the YEC, you guarantee yourself 210 points. (this means that you lose all three of your RR matches.) You can win a maximum of 1500 points if you win all of your matches.
This is where the tournament categories start to get confusing. There are two main categories, Premier and International. However, there are three sub categories of Premier events- Premier Mandatory, Premier 5 and Premier. There are four premier mandatory events- Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing. These events give 1000 points to the winner. Premier 5 events are not as big as Premier Mandatory Events. As their name would suggest, there are five Premier 5 events- Dubai, Rome, Cincinnati, Montreal/Toronto (The tournament changes between the two locations every year.) and Tokyo. The winner of a Premier 5 event wins 900 points. There are 11 premier events this year, and each gives 470 points to the tournament champion.
International tournaments are much smaller tournaments. The prize money is usually less than half of even the smallest Premier tournaments, and they only give out 280 points to the winner. There are 32 International tournaments, and winners of International tournaments also have a chance to qualify for the Bali YEC, the International equivalent of the YEC at Istanbul.
The ITF events are much simpler- they are arranged by prize money, and tournaments that offer hospitality give more points.
Obviously the biggest tournaments of the year are the majors. There are four majors, the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. The winner of a major will receive 2000 ranking points.
After the majors, the biggest tournament is the Year End Championships. The location of this tournament changes every few years. This year, the YEC will be held in Istanbul. The YEC is a complicated tournament. The top eight players qualify and are broken into two groups of four. The players play round robin matches against the other three players in their group and the top two players from each group go onto the semifinals. The top player from each group plays the second player from the other group. At the semifinals, it's one loss and you're out. The ranking points are kind of odd in the YEC. You gain points for each round robin match you win and each draw match. By making the YEC, you guarantee yourself 210 points. (this means that you lose all three of your RR matches.) You can win a maximum of 1500 points if you win all of your matches.
This is where the tournament categories start to get confusing. There are two main categories, Premier and International. However, there are three sub categories of Premier events- Premier Mandatory, Premier 5 and Premier. There are four premier mandatory events- Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing. These events give 1000 points to the winner. Premier 5 events are not as big as Premier Mandatory Events. As their name would suggest, there are five Premier 5 events- Dubai, Rome, Cincinnati, Montreal/Toronto (The tournament changes between the two locations every year.) and Tokyo. The winner of a Premier 5 event wins 900 points. There are 11 premier events this year, and each gives 470 points to the tournament champion.
International tournaments are much smaller tournaments. The prize money is usually less than half of even the smallest Premier tournaments, and they only give out 280 points to the winner. There are 32 International tournaments, and winners of International tournaments also have a chance to qualify for the Bali YEC, the International equivalent of the YEC at Istanbul.
The ITF events are much simpler- they are arranged by prize money, and tournaments that offer hospitality give more points.
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