2002 WTA Tour
The 2002 Sanex WTA Tour was the elite professional tennis circuit organized by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2002 tennis season. The WTA Tour calendar comprised the Grand Slam tournaments (supervised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF)), the WTA Tier I-V Events, the Fed Cup (organized by the ITF) and the year-end championships.
 Serena Williams won eight titles, including three Grand Slams, to finish the year at No. 1 in the singles ranking. | |
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Duration | December 31, 2001 - November 11, 2002 |
| Edition | 32nd |
| Tournaments | 64 |
| Categories | Grand Slam (4) WTA Championships WTA Tier I (9) WTA Tier II (17) WTA Tier III (17) WTA Tier IV (9) WTA Tier V (7) |
| Achievements (singles) | |
| Most tournament titles |  |
| Most tournament finals | |
| Prize money leader | ($3,935,668) |
| Points leader | |
| Awards | |
| Player of the year | |
| Doubles Team of the year |   |
| Most improved player of the year |  |
| Newcomer of the year |  |
| Comeback player of the year | |
← 2001 2003 → | |
New tournaments created for the 2002 season included the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium; a new green clay event, the Sarasota Clay Court Classic, in Sarasota, U.S.; and the Nordea Nordic Light Open held in Espoo, Finland. Another new tournament was created to be held in Aarhus, Denmark, but was later cancelled. Also, the French Community Championships moved cities from Knokke-Heist to Brussels, and the Kroger St. Jude Championship was moved from Oklahoma City, U.S. to a new location in Memphis.
Season summary
Serena Williams was the outright player of the year, ascending to No. 1 for the first time in July and holding it for the rest of that season. She won her second, third and fourth Grand Slam singles titles at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open, beating her sister Venus in all three finals. This would lead to her non-calendar Grand Slam (dubbed the "Serena Slam") which she would complete at the Australian Open the following year. Her win-loss record for the year was 56–5. Venus Williams also ascended to the No. 1 ranking in February, and finished the season at No. 2. Jennifer Capriati defended her Australian Open title to win her third Grand Slam title, after the two she won in 2001.
Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez were the doubles team of the year, and finished the season as the top 2 on the individual rankings. Their titles at the French Open and the U.S. Open represented their second and third Slam titles together. Serena Williams and Venus Williams won their fifth Grand Slam doubles title together at Wimbledon, and Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova won their second doubles title together at the Australian Open, with it being Hingis' 9th overall.
Former No. 1 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario announced her retirement at the end of the season, although she returned in 2004 to play doubles tournaments.
Schedule
The table below shows the 2002 WTA Tour schedule.
- Key
| Grand Slam events |
| Year-end championships |
| Tier I events |
| Tier II events |
| Tier III events |
| Tier IV and V events |
| Team events |
January
February
.svg.png){kind=small}
March
| Week | Tournament | Champions | Runners-up | Semifinalists | Quarterfinalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Mar 11 Mar | Pacific Life Open Indian Wells, United States Tier I event $2,100,000 - Hard - 96S/48Q/32D Singles - Doubles | 6–3, 6–4 |  | |   |
.svg.png){kind=small} 7–5, 6–0 | | ||||
| 18 Mar 25 Mar | NASDAQ-100 Open Miami, United States Tier I event $2,860,000 - Hard - 96S/48Q/32D Singles - Doubles | 7–5, 7–6(7–4) | | | .svg.png){kind=small} |
7–6(7–4), 6–7(4–7), 6–3 | |
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
| Week | Tournament | Champions | Runners-up | Semifinalists | Quarterfinalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Nov | WTA Tour Championships Los Angeles, United States Year-end Championship $3,000,000 - Hard - 16S/8D Singles - Doubles | 7–5, 6–3 | | | %3B_Flag_of_Serbia_and_Montenegro_(2003%E2%80%932006).svg.png){kind=small}  |
4–6, 6–4, 6–3 |  | ||||
| Volvo Women's Open Pattaya City, Thailand Tier V event $110,000 - Hard - 32S/28Q/16D Singles - Doubles |  6–2, 6–4 |  | |     | |
  7–5, 7–6(9–7) | |
Rankings
Below are the 2002 WTA year-end rankings in both singles and doubles competition:
Singles
| Singles Year-end Ranking[1] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Player Name | Nation | Points | 2001 | Change |
| 1 | Serena Williams | |
6,080 | 6 | +5 |
| 2 | Venus Williams | |
5,140 | 3 | +1 |
| 3 | Jennifer Capriati | |
3,796 | 2 | -1 |
| 4 | Kim Clijsters | |
3,557 | 5 | +1 |
| 5 | Justine Henin | |
3,218 | 7 | +2 |
| 6 | Amélie Mauresmo |  |
3,068 | 9 | +3 |
| 7 | Monica Seles | |
2,952 | 10 | +3 |
| 8 | Daniela Hantuchová | |
2,668 | 38 | +30 |
| 9 | Jelena Dokić | |
2,506 | 8 | -1 |
| 10 | Martina Hingis | |
2,348 | 4 | -6 |
| 11 | Anastasia Myskina | |
1,908 | 59 | +48 |
| 12 | Lindsay Davenport | |
1,795 | 1 | -11 |
| 13 | Chanda Rubin | |
1,752 | 54 | +41 |
| 14 | Magdalena Maleeva | |
1,701 | 16 | +2 |
| 15 | Patty Schnyder | |
1,644 | 37 | +22 |
| 16 | Anna Smashnova | |
1,617 | 87 | +71 |
| 17 | Silvia Farina Elia | |
1,596 | 14 | -3 |
| 18 | Alexandra Stevenson | |
1,444 | 60 | +42 |
| 19 | Elena Dementieva | |
1,426 | 15 | -4 |
| 20 | Nathalie Dechy | |
1,295 | 44 | +24 |
Number 1 ranking
| Holder | Date Gained | Date Forfeited |
|---|---|---|
|
Year-End 2001 | 13 January 2002 |
|
14 January 2002 | 24 February 2002 |
|
25 February 2002 | 17 March 2002 |
|
18 March 2002 | 21 April 2002 |
|
22 April 2002 | 19 May 2002 |
|
20 May 2002 | 9 June 2002 |
|
10 June 2002 | 7 July 2002 |
|
8 July 2002 | Year-End 2002 |
Doubles
| Doubles Year-end Ranking[2] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Player Name | Nation | Points | 2001 | Change |
| 1 | Paola Suárez | |
3,863 | 6 | +5 |
| 2 | Virginia Ruano Pascual | |
3,822 | 8 | +6 |
| 3 | Lisa Raymond | |
3,360 | 1 | -2 |
| 4 | Rennae Stubbs | |
3,304 | 4 | = |
| 5 | Janette Husárová | |
3,107 | 28 | +23 |
| 6 | Elena Dementieva | |
2,765 | 98 | +92 |
| 7 | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario | |
2,256 | 11 | +4 |
| 8 | Daniela Hantuchová | |
2,344 | 56 | +48 |
| 9 | Cara Black | |
2,085 | 3 | -6 |
| 10 | Elena Likhovtseva | |
2,043 | 4 | -6 |
| 11 | Anna Kournikova | |
1,992 | 26 | +15 |
| 12 | Ai Sugiyama | |
1,912 | 9 | -3 |
| 13 | Rika Fujiwara | |
1,725 | 135 | +122 |
| 14 | Jelena Dokić | |
1,615 | 12 | -2 |
| 15 | Martina Hingis | |
1,504 | 30 | +15 |
| 16 | Conchita Martínez | |
1,372 | 19 | +3 |
| 17 | Meghann Shaughnessy | |
1,371 | 14 | -3 |
| 18 | Liezel Huber | |
1,302 | 21 | +3 |
| 19 | Nicole Arendt | |
1,232 | 10 | -9 |
| 20 | Kimberly Po-Messerli | |
1,153 | 7 | -13 |
Number 1 ranking
| Holder | Date Gained | Date Forfeited |
|---|---|---|
|
Year-End 2001 | 8 September 2002 |
|
9 September 2002 | Year-End 2002 |
Statistics
List of players and titles won, last name alphabetically:
The following players won their first title:
Titles won by nation:
External links
References
- Schröder, Liz (2002-11-11). "Sanex WTA Rankings - Singles Ranking For: 11 November 2002" (PDF). WTA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
- Schröder, Liz (2002-11-11). "Sanex WTA Rankings - Doubles Ranking For: 11 November 2002" (PDF). WTA. Retrieved 2012-07-23.