WTA come from Women's Tennis Association, formed in 1973, is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It organizes the WTA Tour, the worldwide professional tennis tour for women, which has for sponsorship reasons been known since 2005 as The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the ATP.
The Women's Tennis Association can trace its origins back to Houston, Texas when the inaugural Virginia Slims event was won on 23 September 1970. Billie Jean King was a major figure in the early days of the WTA.
Tournament categoriesThe WTA divides the main women's tournaments into several tiers:
1. Grand Slam Events (4)
2. Season-ending championships (Sony Ericsson Championships): with Three Million Dollars ($3,000,000) prize money.
3. Tier tournaments:
1. Tier I (minimum prize money of $1,340,000): There are ten (10) Tier I Tournaments.
2. Tier II (minimum prize money of $600,000): There are sixteen (16) Tier II Tournaments.
3. Tier III(minimum prize money of $175,000): There are seventeen (17) Tournaments in this Tier.
4. Tier IV (minimum prize money of $145,000): There are twelve (12) Tournaments in this Tier.
Ranking points are also available at certain International Tennis Federation (ITF) events below Tier IV.
Official:
WTACredit:
Wikipedia
