WTA Major Tournaments

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There are 10 MAJOR women’s tennis tournaments each year in addition to the four Grand Slams which, when combined (10+4) make up the “BIG 14” in tennis. These 10 MAJOR tournaments are divided up into three categories: Premier Mandatory tournaments (4), Premier FIVE tournaments (5) and the year-end Championship called the WTA Finals (1).

The BIG 14 is a term coined by OnCourt Advantage in order to increase awareness in the world that there are actually 14 big or major tournaments and not just four.

I deliberately use the term “MAJORS” in reference to the 10 MAJOR tournaments amongst the BIG 14 that are NOT Grand Slam events, to reinforce the fact that these tournaments actually are of major importance and prestige. For tennis to prosper having everyone recognise that there are 14 MAJOR tournaments a year to follow, watch, attend and read about as opposed to just for four events a year, would be a huge Advantage for tennis.

It is very widely known what Grand Slam tournaments are and that they are major events, this is why I simply refer to them as Grand Slams and not majors. If everyone referred to the 10 tournaments that combine with the four Grand Slams to make the BIG 14 as “MAJORS” the message of how important these 10 tournaments are within tennis would certainly be 100 times clearer to everyone. In fact, a number of times a WTA player has been able to earn the World No.1 ranking by performing so well in these 10 MAJORS despite not winning a Grand Slam singles title. This is a direct reflection of how important the MAJORS are in determining who really is the best player in the world.

OnCourt Advantage believes that the fantastic achievement of earning the World No.1 ranking should NEVER be dismissed or have any negative connotation added to it even if that player has never won a Grand Slam singles title. World rankings have been calculated by the WTA for close to four decades, yet only 21 women have ever achieved the World No.1 ranking. Caroline Wozniacki, Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic deserve tremendous accolades for earning the No.1 ranking and do not deserve ANY of the large volume of negative criticism that is dished out to them.

The 2012 tournament calendar for these MAJORS in date order is:

  1. February 11-19, 2012: DOHA, Qatar – Premier FIVE
  2. March 5-18, 2012: INDIAN WELLS, USA – Premier Mandatory
  3. March 19-April 1, 2012: MIAMI, USA – Premier Mandatory
  4. April 26-May 5, 2012: MADRID, Spain – Premier Mandatory
  5. May 6-12, 2012: ROME, Italy – Premier FIVE
  6. August 6-12, 2012: MONTREAL, Canada – Premier FIVE
  7. August 13-19, 2012: CINCINNATI, USA – Premier FIVE
  8. September 23-September 29, 2012: TOKYO, Japan – Premier FIVE
  9. September 29-October 5, 2012: BEIJING, China – Premier Mandatory
  10. October 23-28, 2012: ISTANBUL, Turkey – WTA Finals

If you click on the blue underlined word/s it will take you to the directory page for that particular MAJOR women’s tournament, which contains a link to every post and all of the specific details of that tournament. The directories were and are added to this site to make it far quicker for YOU to locate what you want to find.

Stay tuned as EVERY major men’s and women’s tournament plus all four of the Grand Slams are covered throughout the year to make it easy to follow tennis, find, ask questions, get your tennis tickets and watch men’s and women’s professional tennis on the WTA and ATP Tour.