The 2022 WTA Finals Fort Worth will mark the 51st edition of the season-ending championships. Here are some of the most notable facts and figures in the history of the tournament.
12: Fort Worth is the 12th host city in WTA Finals history. The tournament's first two editions, in 1972 and 1973, were in Boca Raton. It moved to Los Angeles in 1974-76, returning in 2002-05. Between 1977-2000, it was located in New York, aside from a one-year stop in Oakland in 1978.
In 2001, a one-year spell in Munich marked the first time the Finals left the United States. It also had a European base in 2006-07 (Madrid) and 2011-13 (Istanbul).
In 2008, the WTA Finals traveled to Asia for the first time. Doha was the host between 2008-10, followed by Singapore (2014-18) and Shenzhen (2019).
After a one-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tournament resumed in Guadalajara in 2021 -- its debut in Latin America.
4: Surfaces that the WTA Finals has been played on. Its first two editions in Boca Raton were on clay, then between 1974-2000 it was played on indoor carpet. Since 2001, the tournament has been played on indoor hard courts with the exception of Doha 2008-10 and Guadalajara 2021, which were on outdoor hard courts. Fort Worth will be played on indoor hard courts.
4: Formats that the WTA Finals has used. In 1972, then between 1974-76 and 1983-2002, it was a 16-player knock-out tournament. In 1973, it was an eight-player knock-out tournament. Between 1979-82, it used an eight-player double-elimination format whereby the first two players to score two wins in a group reached the semifinals, with their opponents decided by coin flip.
Between 1977-78 and ever since 2003, it has been an eight-player round-robin tournament (in 1977-78, the two group winners went straight through to the final; since 2003, the top two from each group have comprised the semifinalists).
24: Different WTA Finals singles champions in 50 editions. Ten of those were multiple champions: Martina Navratilova (8), Stefanie Graf (5), Serena Williams (5), Chris Evert (4), Monica Seles (3), Kim Clijsters (3), Evonne Goolagong Cawley (2), Gabriela Sabatini (2), Martina Hingis (2) and Justine Henin (2).
7: Players who have successfully defended a WTA Finals title: Navratilova (1978-79, then five in a row between 1983 and Nov. 1986), Seles (three in a row between 1990-92), Graf (1995-96), Clijsters (2002-03), Henin (2006-07) and Serena Williams (three in a row between 2012-14).
4: WTA Finals champions who did not (or have not yet) won a Grand Slam title: Sylvia Hanika (1982), Agnieszka Radwanska (2015), Dominika Cibulkova (2016) and Elina Svitolina (2018). Additionally, seven players won the WTA Finals before winning their first Slam: Evert, Navratilova, Sabatini, Jana Novotna, Clijsters, Amélie Mauresmo and Caroline Wozniacki.
14: Multiple Grand Slam champions since 1972 who did not (or have not yet) won the WTA Finals: Virginia Wade, Billie Jean King, Margaret Court, Hana Mandlikova, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Mary Pierce, Jennifer Capriati, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Li Na, Victoria Azarenka, Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka and Iga Swiatek.
17: WTA Finals runners-up who did not (or have not yet) won the title. Only one of those were runners-up on multiple occasions -- Pierce in 1997 and 2005.
8: Unbeaten WTA Finals champions since the round-robin format was reintroduced in 2003: Clijsters (2003), Henin (2007), Venus Williams (2008), Serena Williams (2009, 2012, 2013), Petra Kvitova (2011) and Svitolina (2018). Serena's 2012 title run was the only one of those in which the champion did not lose a set.
Eight champions went 4-1 over the week, with five of those taking their sole loss in their final round-robin match: Maria Sharapova (2004), Mauresmo (2005), Henin (2006), Clijsters (2010) and Wozniacki (2017). Two of those lost their second round-robin match: Serena Williams (to Halep in 2014) and Ashleigh Barty (to Kiki Bertens in 2019). Garbiñe Muguruza is the only player to have lost her first round-robin match (to Karolina Pliskova in 2021) before winning her next four to take the title.
Two champions managed to win the title with a 3-2 record after losing their first two round-robin matches: Radwanska in 2015 and Cibulkova in 2016. Both defeated Halep in their last round-robin match to reach the semifinals.
3: Five-set matches contested at the WTA Finals. Between 1984-98, the final was best-of-five, and three went all the way: Seles defeated Sabatini 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in 1990; Graf defeated Anke Huber 6-1, 2-6, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in 1995; and Graf defeated Hingis 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 4-6, 6-0 in 1996.
Seles' 1990 victory is the longest WTA Finals match ever at 3 hours and 47 minutes. The longest best-of-three WTA Finals match to date is Radwanska's 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-4 round-robin defeat of Sara Errani in 2012, at 3 hours and 29 minutes.
