2009 WTA Tour
Grand Slam women's singles champions of 2009: Australian Open and Wimbledon titlist Serena Williams (top/bottom left), French Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova (top right), and US Open champion Kim Clijsters (bottom right).
|
|
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Duration | January 5 – November 2 |
| Edition | 39th |
| Tournaments | 55 |
| Categories |
Grand Slam (4) WTA Championships (2) WTA Premier Mandatory (4) WTA Premier 5 (5) WTA Premier (10) WTA International tournaments (30) |
| Achievements (singles) | |
| Most tournament titles |
 Dinara Safina Serena Williams (3) |
| Most tournament finals |
Dinara Safina Caroline Wozniacki (8) |
| Prize money leader |
Serena Williams ($6,545,586) |
| Points leader |
Serena Williams (9,075) |
| Awards | |
| Player of the year |
Serena Williams
|
| Doubles Team of the year |
Serena Williams Venus Williams
|
| Most improved player of the year |
 Yanina Wickmayer
|
| Newcomer of the year |
Melanie Oudin
|
| Comeback player of the year |
Kim Clijsters
|
|
← 2008
2010 →
|
|
The 2009 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was the 37th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 5, 2009, and concluded on November 8, 2009 after 56 events.
Serena Williams and Dinara Safina engaged in a battle for the year-end No. 1 ranking, with Williams eventually coming out on top after winning the WTA Tour Championships. She won two Grand Slam titles during the year. Safina ascended to No. 1 in April and held it for much of the rest of the season. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Caroline Wozniacki and Elena Dementieva also enjoyed successful years in 2009.
Jelena Janković also battled with inconsistent results, falling from No. 1 in January to No. 8 by November.
Kim Clijsters returned to competitive tennis in August after giving birth to her daughter, and won the US Open title. Maria Sharapova made her comeback in May, having missed all tournaments since the summer of 2008, and rose back into the top 20.
Former world No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo announced her retirement at the end of the season, while Ai Sugiyama and Nathalie Dechy were among other notable players who retired during the year.
The 2009 season saw the Women's Tennis Association undergo what was described as "its most sweeping reforms in history", with the aim of creating a more fan friendly structure to the Tour, to reduce player withdrawals, and increase player commitment in the biggest tournaments.
The main features of the new "Roadmap" calendar saw the abolition of the previous Tier system, which were replaced by Premier and International tournaments. 20 Premier events were to be held throughout the season, down from the 26 Tier I and Tier II events that were held in 2008. Of those 20, four—the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open in Madrid, and the China Open in Beijing—would be mandatory, offering $4.5 million in prize money. Along with that were five other tournaments, the Premier 5s, which offered $2 million in prize money. Ten other Premier tournaments were also held throughout the season. These would all lead up to the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar, which boasted a $4.5 million total prize fund.
...
Wikipedia