‘Great job’ with WTA Finals, S’pore on the radar for more tennis events: Billie Jean King
(From left to right): Beatrice Chia, an award winning theatre director and entrepreneur, tennis legend Billie Jean King, national netball Nurul Baizura and Joanne Soo, a member of Singapore’s first all-women team to summit Everest, at a panel discussion during the launch of the WTA Finals Singapore finale campaign. Photo: WTA Finals Singapore
SINGAPORE — This October may be the last time you can catch the tennis superstars gracing the WTA Finals here, but the association’s founder and tennis legend Billie Jean King believes Singapore will have no trouble filling the year-end spot left vacant by the US$7 million (S$9.2 million) tournament.
The competition will be moving to Shenzhen, China.
While WTA’s chief executive Steve Simon had previously told TODAY that he was keen for the tournament to stay in Singapore for the future, Ms King, 74, said that Shenzhen’s offer to double the prize money from US$7 million (S$9.2 million) to US$14 million was too good to resist. The record purse offered next year makes the WTA Finals the richest tennis tournament outside of the Grand Slams.
However, Ms King, who was in town on Thursday (March 8) to launch the final edition of the WTA Finals Singapore, told TODAY that there is a lot of interest within the international tennis scene to make things happen here. “I’ve got news for you, people are very interested in Singapore already, bringing in some other events, so everyone’s clamouring.”
This is because of the “great job” that Singapore did with hosting the marquee women’s tennis event over the last four years, she added. “The legacy that’s been left here, it’ll be a brand new chapter after (WTA leaves).”
Ms Sarah Clements, Lagardere Sports’ vice-president for tennis (Asia), said that the event promoter is exploring the possibility of bringing in tennis or other sports events in place of the WTA Finals. “We are talking to a lot of people at the moment about opportunities. We always want to bring something that is good for Lagardere, as well as our partners involved, and they tend to be your larger-scale major events.
“But at the same time, there’s a major focus on the health and wellness space at the moment, and the benefits of community events.”
Two months ago, Lagardere Sports, the Singapore Tourism Board, and Sport Singapore announced that they had decided not to pursue a potential extension of its five-year contract for the WTA Finals.
Apart from the Finals, the WTA had previously mentioned the possibility of hosting a permanent event on the calendar after 2018.
On the move to China, Ms King said: “It’s obvious why they’re going (there). Nobody could deliver the money. They’re going to build a new 14,000-seater state-of-the-art arena, they’re going to give (WTA) twice as much money (and it) couldn’t say no.
“I know it bothered the WTA a lot to leave, because it really appreciates everything everybody did in Singapore.”
THE RISE OF NEW TENNIS ICONS
Ms King believes the move to China, which will host nine WTA tournaments this season, will also help the country unearth its next tennis superstar.
Referring to China’s two-time Grand Slam winner Li Na, she said: “Being in China with Li Na... (Japan’s) Naomi Osaka beating Maria Sharapova today (at Indian Wells)... There’re some many young kids now, they’re going to come out of the woodwork. Just when you think things are terrible, somebody always comes through.”
While Ms King believes women’s tennis will see other icons in the future, she said that no one will match up to 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams. The 36-year-old returns to the Tour on Friday at Indian Wells after taking more than a year off due to the birth of her first child, and the American star wants to eventually better Margaret Court’s all-time Grand Slam singles record of 24.
Ms King said: “It’s hard not to focus on Serena. She’s got a chance to win more majors in singles. There will be another icon, but there’re not too many Serenas who come along.”
PLAYER, LEGEND, ADVOCATE
Ms King is considered by many as one of the most important and influential icons in women’s tennis. The American won 39 Grand Slam titles — 12 in singles, 16 in women’s doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles — and the singles title at the inaugural WTA Tour Championships.
An advocate for gender equality, she lobbied for equal prize money in the men’s and women’s competitions. Ms King and a group of seven other female players formed the first professional women’s tennis tour in the 1970s, and she founded the Women’s Tennis Association in 1973 to advocate for equal pay.
These days, Ms King’s name is back in the limelight again as the inspiration of the movie, Battle of the Sexes, which featured Hollywood star Emma Stone and is based on Ms King’s 1973 match against 55-year-old Bobby Riggs then.
The WTA Finals finale campaign launch on Thursday, held in conjunction with International Women’s Day, also featured a panel discussion with Ms King and three Singapore heroines: Joanne Soo, a member of Singapore’s first all-women team to reach the summit of Mount Everest, national netballer Nurul Baizura, and Beatrice Chia, an award-winning theatre director and entrepreneur.
Affable and chatty in person, Ms King admitted that gender equality is still an issue that gets her hot and bothered. “Martina (Navratilova) and Chris (Evert) had the best rivalry ever in the history of sports in some ways. If they had been men, they’ll get a lot more accolades. People need to keep talking about that rivalry, because I don’t think they know how exceptional they were and still are.”
With some men, including top tennis player Novak Djokovic, griping about the equal pay packet at Grand Slams, Ms King has a retort for them.
“The women are very willing to play three out of five sets, we’re happy to oblige. If Elton John, or U2, or The XX came to give a concert, it doesn’t matter whether it’s one or six hours, a ticket’s a ticket.”
The feisty legend, who is in a same-sex relationship with her former doubles partner Ilana Kloss, added with a chuckle: “I don’t want the men to be playing five sets, it’s too much, look at the Australian Open with that six-hour match one time (Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal, final 2012). With technology, the concentration of kids is about seven seconds. People want quality, not quantity.”
Visit www.wtafinals.com for more information on the WTA Finals Singapore
