The 2009 WTA Tour
The 2009 Woman’s Tennis Association or WTA Tour was the 37th season since its foundation. It was sponsored by Sony Ericsson. The tour was inaugurated on January 5, 2009 and terminated after 56 events on November 8, 2009. Dinara Safina and Serena Williams slotted into a battle for the year-end top ranking. Apparently, Williams eventually emerged as the winner of the WTA Tour Championships. During the year, Williams had won two Grand Slam titles but in April Safina ascended to no. 1 spot and have held it for much of the entire season. The 2009 WTA Tour was also enjoyed by Elena Dementieva, Caroline Wozniacki, and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
On the contrary, 2009 WTA Tour was a struggling season for Ana Ivanovic as she ended not including at the top 20. There was also Jelena Jankovic who had battled the tour with consistent results from being the No. 1 rank in January to No. 8 rank by November. After giving birth to her daughter, Kim Clijsters had returned for the tour with competitive tennis as she won the US Open title. Since the summer of 2008, Maria Sharapova had missed all WTA tournaments but she made her comeback in May and reverted into one of the top 20. At the end of the season, Amelie Mauresmo, who is a former world no. 1, had announced her retirement during the end of the season. There were also notable players who retired during the year namely Nathalie Dechv and Ai Sugiyama.
The 2009 WTA Tour was described as the most sweeping transformations in history because it has the objective of increasing player commitment in the biggest tournaments, reducing player withdrawals, and creating a more fan-friendly structure for the tour. The season was started on a hot streak by Elena Dementieva. She takes the title in Sydney as she beats Dinara Safina during the finals. She won a smaller tournament in Auckland a week before she was placed as a strong contender for the Grand Slam season’s opening in Australia Open.
The season of 2009 WTA Tour is when Serena Williams won her tenth and eleventh titles for Grand Slam singles. Venus Williams became the first big target when she lost the second round during the Australian Open fortnight to Carla Suarez Navarro. A fairytale run to the quarterfinals was made by Jelena Dokic which is the farthest she had been in the event of Grand Slam since 2002. Being the world’s no.1, Jelena Jankovic had lost to Marion Bartoli in the fourth round. During the quarterfinals, the run of Dokic was concluded by Safina with Serena Williams, Dementieva, and Vera Zvonavera also moving through. Eventually, Williams was able to beat Safina in a match for the no. 1 ranking on the row to win her fourth title at the Australian Open and tenth title at the Grand Slam. She had sealed the line as she returned to the no. 1 spot.
In February, Amelie Mauresmo had overcome her struggling shape from the previous two seasons when she won the Premier event in Paris. The first Premier 5 event of Roadmap that took place in Dubai was won by Venus Williams as she beats Virginie Razzano, a surprise finalist. During the finals, Zvonavera won the biggest title for her career as she beats Ivanovic at the mandatory Indian Wells.