WTA Tour announced Tournament of Champions – the Sony Ericsson Championships for losers, sort of
You all know about the Sony Ericsson Championships, the tournament which marks the end of the tennis year, where the world's Top 8 singles players and Top 4 doubles teams from the season compete for the prestigious title. A week ago, the WTA Tour announced a somewhat similar tournament, called the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, which will feature top Tour players who failed to qualify for the big thing, the Sony Ericsson Championships.
The highest-ranked ten players who have won at least one international event in singles during the season and who didn’t manage to qualify for the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships will play the tournament, along with two wildcards. They will compete in an innovative 12-woman round robin singles format (four groups of three players).
The prize money of the tournament is $600,000, and a player who wins three international tournaments and the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions will take home the additional $1-million bonus.
Larry Scott, Chairman & CEO of the Tour, believes that the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions should be a hit with fans, and the event itself a key element of the Tour's new Roadmap calendar.
The Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions will take place in Bali, Indonesia from November 4-8 in 2009. Bali will be the location of the event for an initial period of 2009-2011.
This is just another stupid idea from the WTA Tour!!!
[...] The Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions – Bali, Indonesia -Held AFTER the end of the season (Nov. 4-9) -Round-robin format -Players who have qualified for the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships singles event will not be eligible to play this tournament. -Minimum of $600,000 in prize money [...]
I wish I'll get an opportunity to watch it live, because I live in Indonesia.