The History of the WTA Tour championships

SI Staff | Oct 21, 2014

The History of the WTA Tour championships /

The History of the WTA Tour championships

1975

The WTA Championships were first sponsored by Virginia Slims, and in 1975, the tournament switched dates from October to April. Evert won her third Virginia Slims Championships title and $40,000 for defeating Martina Navratilova (pictured here).

1976

The round robin format began (two groups of four players, after first round elimination) and Australian Evonne Goolagong won.

1976

si cover wta finals.jpg — John G. Zimmerman/SI

Australia Evonne Goolagong Cowney on the cover of SI during the Finals at LA Memorial Sports Arena.

1977

The tournament moves to Madison Square Garden and Chris Evert takes home the title.

1983

Evert at the Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden. Navratilova took home the title that year.

1992

No. 1 seed Monica Seles beats Navratilova 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 to win her third year-end title.

1992

Martina Navratilova was sad.

1995

Steffi Graf beat Anke Huber in five-sets (yes, the final was best-of-five for a few years) to win her fourth title.

1996

Gabriela Sabatini retired from the game at the 1996 WTA Finals.

1996

Kimiko Date Krumm also retired at the 1996 tournament. She would return to the tour years later and still plays at 43-years-old.

1999

Steffi Graf hung up her racket at the 1999 tournament and received...a gift.

1999

Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis met in the final for the second straight year and once again Davenport prevailed.

2000

Martina Hingis won her ninth title of the year, defeating Monica Seles in three sets.

2001

The Finals said goodbye to Madison Square Garden after a 22-year run and relocated to Munich, Germany.

2001

Serena Williams, making her tournament debut, wins the title after Lindsay Davenport withdraws before the final with a knee injury.

2001

An unhappy Davenport talks to reporters after withdrawing due to a knee injury she sustained in her previous match.

2002

Kim Clijsters stuns No. 1 Serena Williams, who had won three majors that year, to win her first WTA Finals title.

2002

The tournament moved back to America after a one-year stint in Munich, settling in Los Angeles.

2003

The WTA Finals has always served as a reunion of the game's legends.

2003

Clijsters and Hingis hanging out at the beach.

2003

Ever the stalwart, Martina Navratilova played doubles with Svetlana Kuznetsova

2003

Kim Clijsters beat Amelie Mauresmo in the final and won $1 million, the largest prize purse ever at a women's only sporting event at the time.

2004

The WTA Finals were sponsored by Porsche...

2004

...That's the only reason why this photo makes sense.

2004

17-year-old Maria Sharapova made her debut after winning Wimbledon that year.

2004

Sharapova went on to win her only WTA Finals title, beating Serena in three sets after trailing 0-4 in the third. She has not beaten Serena since.

2005

Amelie Mauresmo beats Mary Pierce in the first all-French final.

2006

Justine Henin wins her first WTA Finals title and finishes the year No. 1.

2007

In one of the most memorable finals every played at the event, Justine Henin beats Maria Sharapova 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.

2008

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images for Sony Ericsson

The tournament moves to Doha, Qatar for three years.

2008

The always combustible Vera Zvonareva made the final, but lost to Venus Williams 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-2.

2008

It was Venus Williams' first year-end title.

2009

Serena and Venus Williams qualified for the event in both singles and doubles.

2009

But not in ping pong.

2009

Caroline Wozniacki came down with leg cramps.

2009

And in the first all-Williams final of the tournament, Serena came out on top.

2010

he event returned to Doha for the third and final time with a $4.55 million prize and No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki and No. 3 seed Kim Clijsters reached the final. Clijsters came out on top.