A Two-Year Perspective:
- The first 18 tournaments of 2017: Different winners except 3: Karolina Pliskova won in both Brisbane and Doha, Johanna Konta won in both Sydney and Miami, and Elina Svitolina won in both Dubai and Taipei City (replaced in 2019 by Hua Hin).
- The first 18 tournaments of 2018: Different winners again except 3: Elina Svitolina in both Brisbane and Dubai, Petra Kvitová in both St Petersburg and Doha, and Elise Mertens in both Hobart and Lugano.
- Elina Svitolina was double winner in both 2017 and 2018 through the first 18 tournaments but has not reached a final in 2019.
General:
- In addition to all the winners of the first 18 tournaments being different players, all the runners-up (17 of 18) were different except Petra Kvitová, who was a finalist in both Melbourne and Dubai.
- 5 players were both winners (w) and runners-up (ru) during the streak (different tournaments that is): Bianca Andreescu (w: Indian Wells, ru: Auckland), Ashleigh Barty (w: Miami, ru: Sydney), Sofia Kenin (w: Hobart, ru: Acapulco), Petra Kvitova (w: Sydney, ru: Melbourne and Dubai), Karolina Pliskova (w: Brisbane, ru: Miami).
Rankings: (Note: The rankings used were the rankings of the players at the time of the tournaments of course, not the current rankings.)
- Average ranking for winners: 34.
- Average ranking for runners-up: 49
- In 7 of the 18 tournaments (approx. 40%), the lower ranked player beat the higher ranked player. They just so happened in 7 successive tournaments: Doha: (Elise Mertens/Simona Halep), Dubai (Belinda Bencic/Petra Kvitová), Budapest (Alison van Uytvanck/Marketa Vondrousova), Acapulco (Yafan Wang/Sofia Kenin), Indian Wells (Bianca Andreescu/Angelique Kerber), Miami (Ashleigh Barty/Karolina Pliskova), Charleston (Madison Keys/Caroline Wozniacki).
- Winners:
- Only 4 were in the top ten.
- Only 5 were in the ranking range 11-20.
- Therefore, 50% of the winners (9) were outside the top 20.
- The range outside the top 20 was: 21 (Elise Mertens) - 89 (Polona Hercog). In fact 8 of the 9 were 45 or higher.
- If you remove the four top ten winners from the calculations, the average ranking of the remaining winners is 42.
- Runners-up:
- Only 5 were in the top ten.
- Only 2 were in the range 11-20.
- Therefore, 61% of runners-up (11) were outside the top 20.
- The range outside the top 20 was: 30 (Donna Vekic) - 152 (Bianca Andreescu).
- There were two other runners-up outside the top 100 - Iga Swiatek at 115 and Astra Sharma at 138.
- If you remove the five top ten runners-up from the calculations, the average ranking of the remaining runners-up is 66.
Ages:
- Winners:
- Average age was 23
- Three were teenagers: Amanda Anisimova (17), Dayana Yastremska (18), and Bianca Andreescu (18), with 3 recently graduated from the teenage years - Aryna Sabalenka and Sofia Kenin at 20 and Naomi Osaka at 21.
- The range was: 17 (Amanda Anisimova) - 30 (Julia Goerges).
- 7 of the 18 (approx. 40%) were 25 or older.
- Runners-up:
- Average age was 25
- Three were teenagers, Iga Swiatek (17), Bianca Andreescu (18), and Marketa Vondrousova (19).
- The range was: 17 (Iga Swiatek) - 31 (Angelique Kerber)
- 10 of the 18 (approx. 55%) were 25 or older.
Country Representation:
- There were 19 different countries represented among the winners and runners-up.
- 14 of the countries are from Europe (Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and Ukraine), 2 each from North America (Canada, United States) and Asia (China, Japan), and Australia.
The Takeaway:
They stand at each end of the court
Two women who define the sport
By their play have it positioned
At a new level of competition
Anyway, that's how I see it.
Appendix
Author's Notes:
- My pick for the "Aryna Sabalenka" of 2019 - Iga Swiatek from Poland, reigning Wimbledon Junior's Champion and runner-up in Lugano, Switzerland.
- To be fair, I should note that in the 21 ATP tournaments this year each was won by a different player except for Roger Federer's winning in both Dubai and Miami.
- Here are the tournaments, winners, and runners-up:
The First 18 Tournaments of 2019
Tournament Winners and (Runners-up) - WTA
1. Brisbane – Karolina Pliskova (Lesia Tsurenko)
2. Auckland – Julia Goerges (Bianca Andreescu)
3. Shenzhen – Aryna Sabalenka (Alison Riske)
4. Sydney – Petra Kvitova (Ashleigh Barty)
5. Hobart – Sofia Kenin (Anna Karolina Schmiedlova)
6. Australian Open – Naomi Osaka (Petra Kvitova)
7. Hua Hin – Dayana Yastremska (Ajla Tomljanovic)
8. St. Petersburg – Kiki Bertens (Donna Vekic)
9. Doha – Elise Mertens (Simona Halep)
10. Dubai – Belinda Bencic (Petra Kvitova)
11. Budapest – Alison van Uytvanck (Marketa Vondrousova)
12. Acapulco – Yafan Wang (Sofia Kenin)
13. Indian Wells – Bianca Andreescu (Angelique Kerber)
14. Miami – Ashleigh Barty (Karolina Pliskova)
15. Charleston – Madison Keys (Caroline Wozniacki)
16. Monterrey – Garbine Muguruza (Victoria Azarenka)
17. Lugano – Polona Hercog (Iga Swiatek)
18. Bogota – Amanda Anisimova (Astra Sharma)
