WTA Tour Statistical Abstract 2007
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WTA Tour Statistical Abstract 2007 Robert B. Waltz ©2007 by Robert B. Waltz Reproduction and/or distribution for profit prohibited Contents Introduction. .1 Player Results Characterized . 95 Fraction of Points Earned at Slams............................95 2007 In Review: The Top Players . .2 Ratio of Round to Quality Points ................................98 The Final Top Thirty .....................................................2 Strength of Schedule (based on tournament tier)......101 The Beginning Top Twenty-Five ...................................3 Strength of Schedule (based on actual strength) ......102 Summary of Changes, Beginning to End of 2007..........3 Average Round Reached ...........................................104 Top Players Analysed . .4 Quality of Wins..........................................................106 All the Players in the Top Ten in 2007: Quality of Losses.......................................................110 The Complete Top Ten Based on WTA Statistics......4 Success During the First and Second Half of the Year 113 Short Summary: The Top Eighty. .5 Surface Preferences . .117 Rankings Month By Month ............................................7 Player Surface Biases ...............................................118 Tournament Results . .8 Alternate Rankings . 120 Tournament Winners by Date (High-Tier Events) ........8 Basic Alternate Ranking Data...................................120 Tournament Winners by Type — High-Tier Events) .....9 2005 Rankings: Best 17 Rankings w/Quality Points.122 Winners at Smaller Tournaments (Tier III, IV)...........10 1996 Ranking System: The Divisor...........................123 1996 Ranking System Updated: Declining Divisor ..125 Full Summary of Tournament Results. .11 2007 Rankings with Triple Quality Points................127 Title Defences ..............................................................32 1996-Style Divisor with Triple Quality Points..........128 Tournament Strengths . .33 Declining Divisor with Triple Quality Points...........129 Tournament Strength versus Tournament Points........37 Quality Points per Tournament.................................130 Tough Bills and Cheap Thrills ....................................39 Tournament Strength-Based Rankings......................131 Adjusted Strength per Tournament Ranking.............133 Player Results . .41 Idealized Won/Lost....................................................135 The “Majors Ranking” .............................................137 Upsets. .62 The Majors Ranking 2000–2007 (Graph).................139 The 100 Biggest Upsets of 2007 ..................................62 Worst Losses . .65 Doubles . 140 Worst Losses (based on year-end 2007 rankings).......66 2007 In Review: The Top Doubles Players . .140 The Final Top Twenty-Five Doubles Players ...........140 Winning and Losing Streaks . .67 The Beginning Doubles Top Twenty-Five.................141 The Ten Longest Winning Streaks by Top Players......70 Summary of Doubles Changes ................................. 141 The Ten Longest Losing Streaks by Top Players ........70 Top Doubles Players Analysed . .142 Surface Results . .71 All the Players in the Doubles Top Ten in 2007: Clay . .71 The Complete Top Ten Based on WTA Statistics .142 Total Wins on Clay ......................................................75 Short Summary: The Doubles Top Fifty . .143 Winning Percent on Clay ............................................76 Doubles Rankings Month By Month .........................145 Grass . .77 Team Doubles Titles, Most to Least . .146 Total Wins on Grass ....................................................78 Individual Doubles Titles, Most to Least. .148 Winning Percent on Grass ..........................................79 Doubles Tournament Strengths . .150 Hardcourts (Outdoor). .80 Doubles Results . .152 Total Wins on Hard . .83 Winning Percent on Hard............................................84 Doubles Upsets. .170 The 50 Biggest Doubles Upsets of 2007 ...................170 Indoor Courts (Carpet and Indoor Hard) . .85 Doubles Team Winning Percentage..........................172 Total Wins Indoors ......................................................88 Winning Percent Indoors.............................................89 Alternate Doubles Rankings . .173 Doubles 2005 Rankings: Best 11 Rankings with Quality Surface Balance . .90 Points....................................................................173 Percentage of Wins on Each Surface ..........................90 Doubles 1996 Ranking System: The Divisor.............174 Percentage of Points on Each Surface ........................92 Doubles 1996 Ranking System Updated: The Declining Divisor ..................................................................175 WTA Statistical Abstract ©2007 Robert Waltz Contents Doubles 2006 Rankings w/ Quintuple Quality Points 176 Singles Winners, Finalists, Semifinalists. .207 Doubles 1996-Style Divisor Rankings with Triple Quality Career Results for Leading Players . .222 Points ....................................................................177 Career Results — Singles..........................................222 Doubles Declining Divisor with Triple Quality Points 178 Doubles Quality Points per Tournament...................179 Slam History. .249 Doubles Tournament Strength-Based Rankings........180 Singles Slam Winners................................................249 Doubles Adjusted Strength per Tournament Ranking 181 Doubles Slam Winners..............................................252 Doubles “Majors Ranking” — Team........................182 Men’s Singles Slam Winners.....................................255 Doubles “Majors Ranking” — Individual ................183 Men’s Doubles Slam Winners...................................258 Singles and Doubles at the Same Slam (Open Era)..262 Miscellaneous Statistics . .184 Doubles Slams and Partners.....................................263 Statistics About Tournaments....................................184 Grand Slams and Career Slams................................268 Total Ranked Players, 1999–2007 ............................185 Total Slam Victories, Open Era ................................270 The Busiest Players on the Tour . .186 Players and Titles . .271 Total Events Played...................................................186 Players with Titles, Year by Year..............................271 Total Matches Played by Top Players.......................188 Most Titles, Year By Year .........................................274 Number of Events Played by the Top 100 .................190 Five Or More Titles in a Year...................................275 Total Matches Played by the Top 30 Doubles Players 193 Surface Sweeps — Singles (Since 1990) ...................276 Number of Events Played By the Top Doubles Players 194 Career Surface Sweeps/Singles.................................278 Injuries . .196 Career Grand Surface Sweep ...................................279 WTA Tour History . .197 Year-End Top Players . .280 Year-End Top Eight, with Years, Since 1975............280 Who Won What Summary — Singles.........................197 Total Years Ended At Each Rank, Since 1975 ..........282 Who Won What Summary — Doubles.......................198 Strongest Career Rankings Showings.......................284 Who Won What — History of Tournaments. .200 Total Years in the Top Eight .....................................285 Who Won What Part 1: 2002–2007 ..........................200 Doubles Wins & Partners. .286 Who Won What Part 2: 1996–2002 ..........................201 Winningest Doubles Player, From 1983...................286 Who Won What Part 3: 1990–1996 ..........................202 Who Won What Part 4: 1986–1989 ..........................203 Index . 288 Who Won What Part 5: 1983–1986 ..........................204 Active Leaders in Titles (Singles/Doubles) ...............206 WTA Statistical Abstract ©2007 Robert Waltz Introduction I’m not going to give you a big introduction this year. Between a shorter-than-usual off season and a call for jury duty in December, I had to put this Statistical Abstract together in rather a rush. This meant, first, increasing my reliance on data extracted from my database and not cross-checked, and second, less time spent looking for peculiarities in the final product. Still, the general purpose should be served. This is an attempt to fill in the details that the WTA’s handful of statistics about players do not supply. These are not player biographies; the WTA supplies those. They aren’t complete results for all players; the ITF is the source for those. The Statistical Abstract is, instead, an attempt to demonstrate, via numbers, the real nature of some players’ results. Plus there is a certain amount of history, to try to put it all in perspective. In one sense, there was less need of the Abstract this year than in some years. When the contest for year- end #1 was close, the Abstract sometimes gave different perspectives on the matter (there was one year when three different players were #1 in some statistical models). That doesn’t come up this year; there is no doubt about who was #1 in 2007. It was Justine Hénin by a landslide — indeed, she had a year for the ages; her winning percentage (94%) was the best since Steffi Graf’s miracle years in the late Nineties; the only season since then that has been comparable is Martina Hingis’s 1997. But the #2? The WTA says it’s Svetlana Kuznetsova. The statistics pretty consistently say it’s someone else