Why WTA must pick Manchester for the WTA FinalsMay 25, 2017

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) deserves as much attention as the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), but the season-ending WTA Finals has been attracting lower crowds after playing its final year in Madison Square Garden, New York in 2000. The WTA bigwigs couldn't be blamed of staging one of the major tournaments on the women's tour in Staples Center afterward. This was the home of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Venus and Serena Williams were dominating the game. But it wasn't enough. So the event was moved to Europe (Madrid), and then the Middle East (Doha and Istanbul), and then Asia (Singapore).

WTA confirmed that Manchester representatives would be interested in staging the WTA Finals Greater Manchester in 2019. (The season-ending event will be played in the Singapore Indoor Stadium until 2018.) It's still early in the process, but the women's game will get a boost if the finals in will be held in this northern English metropolis. Here are three reasons:

Johanna Konta will be a Grand Slam contender very soon. The 26 year old, who was born in Sydney, made her breakthrough of sort in the Miami Open last month. It was one of the Premier Mandatory tournaments, one tier below the four Grand Slam tournaments. A major trophy should be her next goal, and it could happen this season; Serena Williams's pregnancy turned the WTA Tour into a wide-open game. Older fans believed that it was wider than the 1990 season, after Steffi Graf completed a Golden Slam (in 1988). Konta, who became a British citizen in 2012, may not be one of the favourites to win the French Open. Watch out for her during the grass-court season, though. Public interest (or patriotism) would be a factor.

Europeans dominate the WTA ranking. Serena Williams would be the only non-European player in the Top 10, but her season ended prematurely. There won't be any guarantee that she could defend her Australian Open title next year. If we round up the Top 20, the other non-European players (in the list) would be Americans Venus Williams and Coco Vandeweghe. Regionalism might lead to a sellout especially any match involving Konta.

London would do a great job in hosting the ATP Finals. Here's a precedence: The O2 Arena has been hosting the ATP Finals for the past decade. No one would be surprised if the ATP extends it, as annual attendance reached 260,000 and TV ratings were high. This should be worthy of consideration.

The 2017 WTA Tour will reach its midpoint after the French Open. The current Porsche Race Singles reveal new faces, who might make their first appearance in the season-ending events later this year. Let's look at them:

Elina Svitolina. The 22-year-old Ukrainian leapfrogged into the top of the Porsche Race Singles after prevailing over Romania's Simona Halep in the finals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia. It would be her fourth title, the most by any female player this season. (Svitolina also won titles in Taipei, Dubai, and Istanbul.) Svitolina is currently coached by Gabriel Urpi. (The former Spanish professional was also the coach of Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Flavia Pennetta.) She has never progressed beyond the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament, but she would have her best results in Roland Garros; she was a quarterfinalist in 2015. She might make it all the way to the finals of the French Open, as no player was able to dominate the clay-court season.

Kristina Mladenovic. The Frenchwoman is currently seventh in the race, thanks to her strong performance in Stuttgart and Madrid. After splitting from Caroline Garcia, Mladenovic seemed to improve tremendously in her singles play. This would be her best season, as she won her first singles titles in St. Petersburg last February. Can she play well during the rest of the year? Her fans can only hold their breath.

Daria Gavrilova. She would be one of the big movers in the Porsche Race Singles. She may have a long shot in playing in Singapore at this point, but she has a good chance of qualifying for the WTA Elite Trophy. (This other season-ending event features twelve players who are ranked between ninth and twentieth in the WTA rankings. It's currently held in Zhuhai, China.) The Melburnian had an impressive run during the Asian swing last year. She reached the fourth round of the Australian Open (last year). Grass may be the next sight of her breakthrough.

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