Pinays to witness WTA Finals

Two Filipina teenaged players will witness, up close and personal, the world’s top eight stars in action at the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals in Singapore on Oct. 23-Nov. 1 with the rare opportunity to meet the likes of Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.

Miles Vitaliano and Shaira Rivera are the lucky teenagers who booked tickets to Singapore by topping their age-group tournaments at the recent Olivarez Cup. Vitaliano beat Mikaela Vicencio, 7-6, 6-0, in the U14 final while Rivera disposed of Monica Cruz, 6-4, 6-1, in the U16 final.

Vitaliano and Rivera will play in the Future Stars competition which is a side event of the WTA Finals. There will be 18 countries represented in both U14 and U16 divisions. Last year, the Philippines was represented by Cruz in the U14 division and Rafaella Villanueva in the U16 division.

Singapore hosted the WTA Finals for the first time last year and it was when the Future Stars program was introduced with 12 Asia Pacific countries participating. Since the inaugural WTA Finals in 1972, nine cities have hosted the event – Boca Raton, Oakland, Munich, Los Angeles, New York, Madrid, Doha, Istanbul and Singapore. Istanbul was the site for three straight years before Singapore won the hosting rights for five years.

The WTA Finals is the culminating tournament of the world tour, gathering the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams to battle in a round-robin format. Serena Williams has won the last three singles crowns. Cara Black and Sania Mirza are the defending doubles champion.

With the move to Singapore, the WTA decided to hold the Future Stars tournament for Asia Pacific countries as a vehicle to promote the sport at a young age. The success of the first edition last year encouraged the WTA to increase the participation from 12 to 17 countries.

“We are thrilled by the success of the Future Stars program,” said WTA Finals tournament director and Asia Pacific vice president Melissa Pine who was in Manila last week. “In previous WTA Finals before Singapore, we’d never held a Future Stars tournament. We want to inspire our young girls and give them the opportunity to compete against their peers from other countries. The lessons they’ll learn from this experience go beyond the tennis court. The sport teaches you how to win and lose, how to deal with adversity, the value of discipline. It shows the way to build friendships.”

Pine said last year, tennis legends like Li Na and Martina Navratilova made themselves available to the young girls. “They’re giving back,” she said. “We also conducted a two-day coaches conference where we listened to the legends talk about the sport, their experiences and their success stories. That was open to everyone for registration.” Pine said the WTA event is all about promoting health, fitness and the empowerment of women through tennis.

The WTA was established in 1972 and is the women’s counterpart of the men’s ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals). It has offices in Florida, London and Beijing. The WTA stages 32 international tournaments with a purse range of $250,000 to $750,000. It also holds 21 premier events with a purse range of $710,000 to $5.4 Million. On a lower scale, the WTA sanctions seven competitions with a purse of $125,000 each. Two of the lower-tier tournaments are held in China and another in Chinese-Taipei.

There are over 50 countries listed in the WTA rolls and 23 are in the Asia Pacific region. The Philippines isn’t a host for any WTA event but Mark Clemente, who works for the WTA, said Manila as a future site is a possibility to explore.

Pine and Clemente were in Manila last week to witness the Olivarez Cup where Vitaliano and Rivera qualified for Singapore. They held a free one-hour clinic for 20 players in the 12-14 age group at the Valle Verde Country Club. It was the WTA’s first-ever official event in the country. Similar clinics were held in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and India recently as the WTA stepped up its efforts in gaining widespread popularity for the Future Stars program.

“We are really happy to welcome back the Philippines to the WTA Future Stars tournament and it is great to see that tennis is growing in popularity in the country,” said Pine. “Working closely with the Philippine Tennis Association, we are committed to promoting and developing tennis across the country and the region. By conducting tennis clinics such as this, we aim to provide up-and-coming players with invaluable insights into what it is like to play and compete at the highest level as well as creating pathways for success in life through tennis and sport.”

In this year’s Future Stars, there will be 18 players in both the U14 and U16 divisions. Last year, there were only 12 or 24 in all. “I’m very happy I won the Future Stars Road to Singapore qualifying event,” said Vitaliano. “I heard about the great time that participants had last year at the WTA Finals and I’m very excited that I will have that opportunity this year.” One of last year’s qualifiers, Villanueva, brought home a tennis racket signed by Williams.

Clemente, a full-blooded Filipino who was raised in New York City and attended Columbia University, said every day was sold out at the WTA Finals last year. The seating capacity of the stadium is 10,000. “The response was beyond expectations,” he said. “The interest in Asia Pacific has really increased. It’s very encouraging that tennis is becoming more and more popular in the region. At the recent Southeast Asian Games, a lot of the matches were extremely close. In the Philippines, I think the talent pool is expanding. A. J. Lim is coming up. Ruben Gonzales and Treat Huey remain competitive among the Fil-Ams. The girls are also doing well. We just held a WTA tournament in Nanchang China, with 32 players, some whom are in the world’s top 20. Maybe, someday, the Philippines could host a WTA event.”