2011 WTA Tour facts for kids

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour is the top level of professional tennis for women. It's where the best female tennis players from all over the world compete! The 2011 WTA Tour included many exciting tournaments. These included the biggest ones, called Grand Slams, and other important events like the WTA Premier tournaments, WTA International tournaments, and team competitions like the Fed Cup. There were also special year-end championships.

What is the WTA Tour?

The WTA Tour is like the main league for women's professional tennis. Players earn points based on how well they do in tournaments. These points help them get a higher ranking, which means they are considered better players. The player with the most points at the end of the year is usually the world number one!

Caroline Wozniacki was the world number one in women's tennis around this time.

Types of Tournaments

The 2011 WTA Tour had different kinds of tournaments, each with different importance and prize money:

• Grand Slams: These are the four biggest tournaments of the year: the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Winning a Grand Slam is a huge achievement!
• WTA Premier Tournaments: These are also very important tournaments, just below the Grand Slams. They are divided into:
  • Premier Mandatory: The biggest Premier events.
  • Premier 5: Also very significant.
  • Regular Premier: Other strong tournaments.
• WTA International Tournaments: These are smaller tournaments, but still important for players to earn points and improve their rankings.
• Team Events:
  • Fed Cup: This is a team competition where countries play against each other. It's like the World Cup for women's tennis!
  • Hopman Cup: Another team event, but it doesn't give ranking points. It's a fun way to start the year.
• Year-End Championships: These are special tournaments at the end of the year for the top-ranked players. They include the WTA Tour Championships and the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions.

The 2011 Schedule Highlights

The 2011 WTA Tour calendar was packed with events all around the world. Here's a look at some of the key moments and types of tournaments that happened each month.

Understanding the Schedule Colors

The schedule tables use different colors to show how important each tournament is:

January: Kicking Off the Year

The tennis season always starts with a bang in January, especially in Australia, leading up to the first Grand Slam.

Week of	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
January 3	Hyundai Hopman Cup Perth, Australia Hopman Cup AU$1,000,000 – Hard (i) – 8 teams (RR)	United States 2–1	Belgium	Round Robin (Group A)  Serbia  Australia  Kazakhstan	Round Robin (Group B)  Great Britain  Italy  France
	Brisbane International Brisbane, Australia WTA International tournaments $220,000 - Hard - 32S/32Q/16D Singles Draw - Doubles Draw	Petra Kvitová 6–1, 6–3	Andrea Petkovic	Marion Bartoli Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	Jarmila Groth Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová Dominika Cibulková Lucie Šafářová
		Alisa Kleybanova Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6–3, 7–5	Klaudia Jans Alicja Rosolska
	ASB Classic Auckland, New Zealand WTA International tournaments $220,000 - Hard - 32S/32Q/16D Singles Draw - Doubles Draw	Gréta Arn 6–3, 6–3	Yanina Wickmayer	Julia Görges Shuai Peng	Maria Sharapova Kateryna Bondarenko Heather Watson Simona Halep
		Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik 6–3, 6–0	Sofia Arvidsson Marina Erakovic
January 10	Medibank International Sydney Sydney, Australia WTA Premier tournaments $618,000 - Hard - 30S/48Q/16D Singles Draw - Doubles Draw	Li Na 7–6(3), 6–3	Kim Clijsters	Alisa Kleybanova Bojana Jovanovski	Dominika Cibulková Victoria Azarenka Svetlana Kuznetsova Flavia Pennetta
		Iveta Benešová Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová 4–6, 6–4, [10–7]	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik
	Moorilla Hobart International Hobart, Australia WTA International tournaments $220,000 - Hard - 32S/32Q/16D Singles Draw - Doubles Draw	Jarmila Groth 6–4, 6–3	Bethanie Mattek-Sands	Klára Zakopalová Peng Shuai	Marion Bartoli Roberta Vinci Sara Errani Angelique Kerber
		Sara Errani Roberta Vinci 6–3, 7–5	Kateryna Bondarenko Līga Dekmeijere
January 17 January 24	Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam A$23,140,000 - Hard - 128S/96Q/64D/32X Singles Draw - Doubles Draw - Mixed Draw	Na Li vs Kim Clijsters		Caroline Wozniacki Vera Zvonareva	Francesca Schiavone Andrea Petkovic Agnieszka Radwańska Petra Kvitova
		Gisela Dulko / Flavia Pennetta vs Victoria Azarenka / Maria Kirilenko
		/ vs /
January 31	Fed Cup by BNP Paribas: Quarterfinals Hobart, Australia, Hard Moscow, Russia, Hard (i) Bratislava, Slovakia, Hard (i) Antwerp, Belgium, (i)	Australia vs  Italy  Russia vs  France  Slovakia vs  Czech Republic  Belgium vs  United States

February: Indoor and Clay Courts

February saw players competing in Premier and International tournaments. Some were played indoors on hard courts, while others started on the red clay courts, especially in South America. Key events included the Open GDF Suez in Paris and the Dubai Tennis Championships.

March: The "Sunshine Double"

March is famous for two huge Premier Mandatory tournaments in the United States, often called the "Sunshine Double":

• The BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California.
• The Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida.

These events attract almost all the top players and are very important for ranking points.

April: Clay Court Season Begins

As spring arrived, the tour moved more to clay courts, especially in Europe. Premier tournaments like the Family Circle Cup in Charleston (on green clay) and the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart (on red clay) were held. The Fed Cup semifinals also took place in April.

May: Road to the French Open

May was all about preparing for the second Grand Slam, the French Open, played on red clay in Paris. Major Premier Mandatory and Premier 5 events like the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open and Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome were key warm-ups.

June: Grass Court Season and Wimbledon

After the clay, players quickly switched to grass courts for the short but exciting grass season. This led up to the most famous tennis tournament in the world:

• The Wimbledon Championships in London, United Kingdom. This historic Grand Slam is known for its traditions and white outfits.

July: Summer Tournaments

After Wimbledon, the tour continued with International tournaments, often on clay in Europe, and then moved to hard courts in North America, preparing for the final Grand Slam of the year.

August: North American Hard Courts

August was a busy month in North America with several big hard court tournaments. These included Premier 5 events like the Rogers Cup in Canada and the Western & Southern Open in the USA. All these events built up to the last Grand Slam.

August/September: The US Open

The final Grand Slam of the year, the US Open, took place in New York City. It's a high-energy tournament on hard courts, marking the end of the Grand Slam season.

September: Asian Swing Begins

After the US Open, the tour moved to Asia for several International and Premier tournaments. These included events in places like Tashkent, Seoul, and Guangzhou.

October: Towards the Year-End Finals

October featured more Premier and International tournaments, including the China Open in Beijing (a Premier Mandatory event) and the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo (a Premier 5 event). The season then built towards the exciting year-end championships.

October/November: Year-End Championships

The year concluded with two special tournaments for the top players:

• The WTA Tour Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, for the very best players of the year.
• The Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali, Indonesia, for other top players who won International titles.

The Fed Cup Final also took place in November, deciding the best tennis nation of the year.

Images for kids

• 

  Kim Clijsters (top left) won her first Australian Open title. Li Na (top right) made history by winning the French Open, becoming the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam. Petra Kvitová (bottom left) won Wimbledon, her first Grand Slam title. Samantha Stosur (bottom right) won the US Open, also her first Grand Slam, becoming the first Australian woman to win a Grand Slam since 1980.

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Torneos WTA en 2011 para niños