The 2022 Hologic WTA Tour season concludes next week with the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas. The top eight singles players and doubles teams of the season will go head-to-head to crown the best of the best.
Here's what you need to know as the best players of the season ready to duke it out in Texas:
When is the tournament?
The WTA Finals are the Hologic WTA Tour's season-ending championships. The round-robin event features the eight singles players and doubles teams who finished atop the season-long Race to the WTA Finals Leaderboard, which calculates ranking points earned solely during the current season.
The 2022 edition of the WTA Finals will be held at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The tournament will be played as an indoor hard court tournament and use the Wilson US Open Regular Duty ball.
The group stage begins on Monday, Oct. 31. through Saturday Nov. 5. The semifinals will be played on Sunday, Nov. 6.
When are the finals?
This year's WTA Finals will feature a Monday final on Nov. 7. The doubles final. begins at 5:30 p.m., with the singles final scheduled for an 8:00 p.m. start.
What is the format?
The singles and doubles competition at the WTA Finals is played in a round-robin format. Players and teams are drawn into two separate groups and the top two finishers from each group advance to the semifinals. The top finisher from each group will face the No.2 finisher from the other.
The semifinals and final are played in a standard knockout format.
Who won it last year?
The 2021 edition of the WTA Finals was hosted in Guadalajara and won by Garbiñe Muguruza. The two-time major champion went 2-1 in group play before defeating Paula Badosa in the semifinals and Anett Kontaveit in the final.
In doubles, Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova won their first WTA Finals, defeating Hsieh Su-Wei and Elise Mertens, 6-3, 6-4 in the final. The Czechs return to the Finals this year as the top seeds.
Who is playing?
Singles Field, by seeding
1. Iga Swiatek
2. Ons Jabeur
3. Jessica Pegula
4. Coco Gauff
5. Maria Sakkari
6. Caroline Garcia
7. Aryna Sabalenka
8. Daria Kasatkina
Meet the final eight headed to Fort Worth
Half of the field are set to play their first WTA Finals: Jabeur, Pegula, Gauff, and Kasatkina. The remaining four -- Swiatek, Sakkari, Garcia, and Sabalenka -- are playing just their second WTA Finals.
Eighteen-year-old American Gauff is the youngest player in the field. France's Garcia, 29, is the oldest.
Doubles field, by seeding
1. Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova
2. Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos
3. Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula
4. Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens
5. Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko
6. Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan
7. Anna Danilina vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia
8. Desiree Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs
Krejcikova and Siniakova, who won three of the four Slams this season, are the defending champions and the only team to have previously played the WTA Finals together. Dabrowski, Olmos, Mertens, Xu, Krawczyk, and Schuurs have qualified in past years with different partners.
Who has been drawn into which groups?
The singles groups are SET in Fort Worth 🔒
— wta (@WTA) October 29, 2022
Which #WTAFinals match-ups are you most looking forward to? 👇 pic.twitter.com/uV5r3HfGmQ
WTA Finals round-robin groups drawn in Fort Worth
What is the prize money and rankings points on offer?
The total prize pool at the WTA Finals in Fort Worth is $5,000,000. A player can win up to 1,500 points and $1.68 million by going undefeated at the WTA Finals to win the singles title. Players are awarded a base amount of points/prize money for playing each match, plus additional points and prize money for victories.
Ranking Points: 125 points per match played, plus 125 points per round-robin win, 330 points a semifinal win, and 420 points for winning the final.
Singles Prize Money: $110,000 participation fee, plus $110,000 for each round-robin win. If a player advances to the semifinals, she adds an additional $30,000. A semifinal win earns an additional $420,000. Winning the final will earn an additional $820,000.
Doubles Prize Money: $50,000 participation fee, plus $20,000 for each round-robin win. If a team advances to the semifinals, they will add an additional $5,000. A semifinal win earns an additional $80,000. Winning the final earns an additional $170,000.
Road to the WTA Finals
Singles
Monday: No.1 Swiatek | No.2 Jabeur
Tuesday: No.3 Pegula | No.4 Gauff
Wednesday: No.5 Sakkari | No.6 Garcia
Thursday: No.7 Sabalenka | No.8 Kasatkina
Doubles
Monday: No.1 Krejcikova and Siniakova | No.2 Dabrowski and Olmos
Tuesday: No.3 Pegula and Gauff | No.4 Mertens and Kudermetova
Wednesday: No.5 Kichenok and Ostapenko | No.6 Yang and Xu
Thursday: No.7 Haddad Maia and Danilina | No.8 Schuurs and Krawczyk