Since its first iteration in 1972, the annual meeting of the world’s best female tennis players in what is today known as the WTA Finals has gone through a dozen names and almost as many locations, but it last featured a Brit back in 1984, when Jo Durie climbed as high as number 5 in the rankings. So British tennis fans were waiting with bated breath for this year’s edition of the tournament, hoping the end-of-season event would prove the culmination of Johanna Konta’s remarkable rise to the top.
Konta only broke the top 50 towards the end of last season, before a semi-final run at the Australian Open at the onset of 2016 took her to a relatively lofty world 28. Her progress has been steady since. After a couple of indifferent Grand Slam results, she won her first WTA title against Venus Williams in Stanford in July, enjoyed another strong showing at the US Open, then at the China Open at the start of October succumbed in the final to Agnieszka Radwańska, but her victory over Madison Keys in the semi hoisted her up to number 9.
That opened a path to the WTA Finals, where places are reserved for the world’s best eight. The British press offered updates almost daily, but Konta’s prospective participation proved like a scene with Doris Trott from The Vicar of Dibley, because the answer so painfully went ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes … no!’.
Konta was forced to pull out in the second round of the Hong Kong Open, while victory for Dominika Cibulková in Linz seemed to seal off last place. But when Serena Williams pulled out of the upcoming finals, there was plenty of room for restored hope. Konta travelled to Singapore, unable to enjoy the pre-tournament festivities while her place remained unconfirmed. And she was forced to watch from afar as a resurgent Svetlana Kuznetsova made her way in Moscow through the rounds of the Kremlin Cup, eventually winning the event to snatch away the final spot.
Some of Konta’s fellow top-10 players have called for a change to the schedule, with Kuznetsova moving ahead of Konta just one day before the WTA Finals began earlier this week. Konta and Carla Suárez Navarro have instead served as the tournament alternates, before heading off to Zhuhai to contest the WTA Elite Trophy, a sort of commiserations for those ranked between 9-19, plus one wildcard. In the future, there may be a week’s break before the season-closing events, with the WTA Elite Trophy shifted to allow the WTA Finals to bring down the curtain.
Konta can at least look forward with few reservations to Zhuhai, relaxing for the remainder of the week in Singapore secure in the knowledge that she has been voted the WTA’s Most Improved Player for 2016, storming to the head of this particular poll with a whopping 80% of the vote.
