2014 WTA Finals

The 2014 WTA Finals was a women's tennis tournament in Singapore from October 17 to October 26, 2014, and was the 44th edition of the singles event and the 39th edition of the doubles competition. The tournament was held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, and contested by eight singles players and eight doubles teams. It was the Championships of 2014 WTA Tour.

Tournament

The 2014 WTA Finals happened at the Singapore Indoor Stadium from 17 October to 26 October 2014, and is the 44th edition of the event. The tournament is run by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) as part of the 2014 WTA Tour. Singapore is now the ninth city to host the WTA Finals since its inauguration in 1972 and will host the event for at least five years. The event will also hold two exhibition tournaments, WTA Rising Stars Invitational and the WTA Legends Event. The inaugural 2014 WTA Rising Stars Invitational will be held during the WTA Finals from October 17–21, 2014. Four singles players age 23 or under were chosen by fan vote from qualifying nominees, two from the Asia-Pacific region and two from the Rest of World region, will participate in Singapore: Zarina Diyas and Zheng Saisai, Asia-Pacific region; Mónica Puig and Shelby Rogers, Rest of World region.

WTA

WTA may refer to:

Women's Tennis Association

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA), founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

The Women's Tennis Association was founded in the month of June 1973, but traces its origins to the inaugural Virginia Slims tournament, arranged by Gladys Heldman, and held on 23 September 1970 at the Houston Racquet Club in Houston, Texas. Rosie Casals won this first event. The WTA's corporate headquarters is in St. Petersburg, Florida, with its European headquarters in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Beijing.

History

The Open Era, allowing professional players to compete alongside amateurs, began in 1968. The first open tournament was the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth. At the first Open Wimbledon the prize fund difference was 2.5:1 in favour of men. Billie Jean King won £750 for taking the title while Rod Laver won £2,000. The total purses of both competitions were £14,800 for men and £5,680 for women. Confusion also reigned as no one knew how many open tournaments there were supposed to be. The tournaments that did not want to provide prize money eventually faded out of the calendar, including the U.S. Eastern Grass Court circuit with stops at Merion Cricket Club and Essex county club.