by Chris Evert
Pele hoisting the World Cup.Doha winning the bid to host the WTA year-end Championships in 2008-2011. Venus Williams accepting the Championships trophy from Sheikha Mozah of Qatar. Qatar winning the bid for the 2022 World Cup. Nadia Comaneci scoring a perfect 10 at the Olympic Games.
When I think of the truly memorable and iconic moments in the world of sport – the ones where you remember exactly where you were when they happened – more often than not they have taken place at a “pinnacle” event.
An event that every athlete dreams of participating in from the moment she or he was a young child and that is the singular focus at the start of each year; an event that determines who is the world champion; that defines a season or even a career.
And more often than not they take place in iconic cities of the world, cities that come to be defined in part by the role they played in hosting these precious moments of sporting history (and vice-versa), when the eyes of the world are momentarily diverted from all of the political and social complexity of humankind and singularly focused on a great sporting spectacle that brings people together.
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) is the world’s leading global sport for women, boasting one billion fans following its 54 events and four Grand Slams across 33 countries, and the most recognizable and popular female athletes on the planet. Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, me (Chris Evert!), Serena Williams, Monica Seles, Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams, Justin Henin, Martina Hingis…you probably recognise a few of these names. And guess what they have all not only won Grand Slams and dozens of WTA tournaments, each and every one is a WTA Championships champion.
From its storied days at Madison Square Garden in New York, to the recent spectacular stagings in Istanbul, the WTA Championships for over 40 years has produced historic moments, crowned World No. 1’s, and defined the careers of champions in incredible cities around the world.
Tennis fans in Qatar have of course experienced the excitement first hand, the fabulous city of Doha having hosted three fantastic editions of the WTA Championships from 2008-10, with Venus, Serena and popular Belgian Kim Clijsters lifting the coveted Billie Jean King Trophy.
And now as we enter 2014 and for a five year run that will carry through 2018, the WTA – in partnership with the sensational city of Singapore – is poised to take its “World Cup” to a whole new level of sporting grandeur, spectacle and entertainment. A season-ending finale featuring the world’s very best female athletes, battling for the No.1 ranking and a place in history by winning what can only be called the “5th major” after the four Grand Slams.
They will be playing for the very first time in Asia-Pacific, symbolic of the meteoric growth of women’s tennis in the world’s most populous and fastest growing region, where a record 17 WTA events are now held and where Li Na of China is as big a star as the world now holds based on numbers of fans.
And for its first foray into Asia for a WTA Championships, what more dynamic city could this be than Singapore.
A cosmopolitan and innovative city for world-class entertainment, culinary excellence, global business exchanges, and adrenaline-pumping sports, Singapore is certainly placed for success as a host city. Home to diverse cultures, two iconic integrated resorts and host of Formula 1’s only night race since 2008, Singapore welcomed a record 14.5 million visitor arrivals and $23.1bn in tourism receipts in 2012.”
These Singapore WTA Championships will be held in what can only be described as far and away the very best, most cutting-edge sporting complex the event has seen – the $1.3bn Singapore Sports Hub, featuring multiple sporting and entertainment arenas and fan zones that will make for a true entertainment destination.
And these WTA Championships in Singapore will also for the very first time become a true sport entertainment spectacle, with an expanded 10 day schedule featuring not only the very best WTA stars battling to be crowned champion, but also Rising Star and Legends events,daily fan festivals, a business conference, industry forums, music events and a VIP Experience that will provide the most inspirational and exciting WTA Championships experience in the history of the WTA.
The “Road to Singapore” has already begun, with the WTA Championships serving as our 54 events’ season ending “World Cup”. The dream of every player is to set foot in the Singapore Sports Hub and to hold the WTA Championships trophy aloft at the end of the event– while possibly also clinching the year-end World No. 1 ranking.
Every match is like a Grand Slam final. Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Li Na…you can bet you will see these megastars in action in Singapore, along with in all probability one or two breakthrough stars like a young Sloane Stephens or Eugenie Bouchard.
No one knows for sure who will emerge from another long, tough WTA season to secure their qualification for the WTA Championships in Singapore, but what we do know is that it will be the very best WTA Championships in our history.
I know where I will be in October to witness amazing sporting moments and a world champion being crowned in the sensational city of Singapore. And I hope you can join us in person or through the multi-media channels beaming the WTA Championships to close to 200 countries around the world from October 17 to 26 as history is once again made.
Chris Evert is the official Ambassador of the WTA Championships – Singapore 2014-2018 and a legend of the WTA, having finished the year ranked No. 1 seven times, won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 157 WTA singles titles and the season-ending WTA Championships four times.
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