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Day 6, Monday, The Record-Breaking Anti-Climax by Ken Kamlet Doubles Final: Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez (2) def. Kim Clijsters/Ai Sugiyama (1) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. In an almost unfair twist to a an interesting week of championship tennis that provided high quality, competitive tennis in almost every match, the 2003 WTA Tour Championships ended with a whimper. Belgium’s Kim Clijsters needed just 52 minutes to dismiss surprise finalist Amelie Mauresmo of France 6-2, 6-0. Clijsters becomes the first WTA Tour champion to successfully defend her title since Steffi Graf (1995-96), capping off one of the most consistent years any player has had in recent tour history. Clijsters competed in 15 finals this year, the most since Monica Seles reached 16 championship rounds in 1991 and appeared in the semifinals of 20 of the 21 events she entered in 2003. Ironically, with the new rankings released on Tuesday, Clijsters will slip to #2 in the world rankings behind compatriot Justine Henin-Hardenne whose 2003 titles include Roland Garros and the US Open. Despite all of her success, Clijsters has yet to win a grand slam event, the most heavily weighted events in the ranking system. "Of course that's a little disappointing but I'm very happy I got to be No. 1, and I'm ending the year as No.2. And that's not bad either," she enthused. Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles are the only other players in Tour history to have ever won consecutive titles at this event. Having won all of her round-robin matches, Clijsters now remains the only player to be undefeated on this court since the event was moved to the STAPLES Center in 2002. The win also put the 20-year old in the record books as having received the biggest paycheck in women’s sports history. The $1,000,030 prize topped $1 million earned by Justine Henin-Hardenne in September when she was crowned US Open Champion. The extra $30 was added to the WTA Tour Championship prize package both to set a new prize-money record and to commemorate the WTA Tour’s 30th anniversary. Clijsters also becomes the first player to ever top $4 million in prize money in a single season. Mauresmo, who once again could not play past nerves and fatigue during a high pressure match, suffered the most one-sided loss in WTA Tour Championship history since Chris Evert was defeated by Martina Navratilova by the same score in 1983. This record excludes the 2001 title in which Serena Williams won the final by default when Lindsay Davenport was forced to withdraw due to injury. Clijsters played effective, dominating and efficient tennis throughout the one-sided affair in front of the largest crowd assembled at the STAPLES Center since the tournament moved to Los Angeles last year. The 2002-3 champion could not have been happier with how she competed exclaiming, “This was the best I think I played all year. I was seeing the ball like a football, I just had the feeling I could do whatever I wanted with the ball today.” Mauresmo, whose promising career has frequently been thwarted by physical injuries and mental lapses, was at a loss to put her finger exactly on why she was never in the match. She explained, “I did my best today but it wasn't good enough. I was a little bit tired. I wasn't finding my rhythm today and she didn't make any mistakes. I think the last matches took a lot out of me physically and mentally.” The doubles championship featured a much more competitive contest. Kim Clijsters was unable to capture the magic twice in one evening as she and her Japanese partner, Ai Sugiyama, lost a 3-set battle with Argentina’s Paola Suarez and Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual who will now finish the year ranked No. 1 and 2 respectively. Despite rumors that the event, which has lost substantial international media attention and fan attendance since leaving New York City’s Madison Square Garden in 2000, will once again need to find a new home because of its inability to sell-out the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, WTA Tour officials insist that the event is a success and that the 2003 box-office receipts exceeded expectations. “We’ve had an outstanding six days in Los Angeles that gave us the opportunity to celebrate the tremendous 30-year heritage of our sport while also showcasing some of the top athletes in the world of sports,” WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott said. “We’re extremely gratified by the success of this year’s tournament and the tremendous response from fans to the new eight-player round robin format we introduced this year.” On a one-on-one conversation earlier this week, tennis great Billie Jean King told On The Line Tennis Magazine that, historically, tournaments in major markets “need at least 5 years to really become established with the local fans.” According to WTA Tour spokesperson Laura Potter, “Overall paid attendance has already surpassed last year’s event by more than 10,000” adding that this “represents an increase of 57% over last year.” |