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WTA Signs TV Deal With beIN

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

The WTA has signed an exclusive five-year, multi-territory deal with television broadcaster beIN MEDIA GROUP.

The agreement gives beIN broadcast rights for all WTA tournaments, including the 21 Premier events and the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, in over 30 territories worldwide including Spain, the USA, Australia and pan-regionally throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

“We are pleased to continue to provide our subscribers with the best international tennis tournaments. Since its creation, beIN SPORTS has broadcast the greatest sports competitions and the addition of the WTA Tour events further strengthens our promise to deliver the best content to our audiences,” said beIN’s deputy Chief Executive Yousef Al-Obaidly.

In addition to tennis, beIN, which is available on all major pay-TV platforms, holds the rights to the UEFA Champions League and RBS 6 Nations rugby. Starting in 2017 and running until 2021, beIN will hold the media rights for all WTA events in the agreed regions, covering all live matches, replays, highlights and the weekly WTA magazine shows.

“We are delighted to announce our partnership with beIN MEDIA GROUP across multiple regions. This will allow the WTA to take advantage of beIN SPORTS’ dominance in certain territories and their ambitious growth plan in others,” WTA CEO Steve Simon said.

The agreement ties in with the start of the WTA’s new partnership with leading digital sports content and media group, Perform, creating WTA Media, the tour’s dedicated media arm. The live media rights and production deal is worth $525m over 10 years (from 2017 to 2026), the largest in the history of women’s sports.

“Partnering with an aggressive multi-sport network, specifically beIN, allows us to introduce our product to a new fan base,” added WTA Media’s John Learing. “Their stable of internationally attractive sports properties, specifically in soccer and rugby will give us a chance to introduce ourselves to a wider base of different sports fans. The bottom line for our viewers is that beIN Sport is generally available in the basic tier and not just the sports package, this will not only mean drawing a larger audience but will also make it easier for fans to find us.”

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French Open: The Seeds

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

PARIS, France – Madison Keys has long been seen as a threat to the game’s established order on the faster surfaces. However, in light of her performances last week in Rome, she is now emerging as a dark horse for the game’s major honors on clay, too.

This viewpoint gained further credibility following Monday’s new WTA rankings – Keys returning to the Top 20 at No.17. The rise is of particular significance given the imminent announcement of the seedings for Roland Garros; with World No.10 Flavia Pennetta retired and Belinda Bencic out injured, Keys will now be among the Top 16 seeds in Paris, thereby avoiding the big names until at least the fourth round. Quatar Total Open finalist Jelena Ostapenko moved up into the Top 32 when former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki announced her withdrawal due to a right ankle injury.

Here are the other projected seeds for the French Open:

(1) Serena Williams (USA #1)
(2) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #2)
(3) Angelique Kerber (GER #3)
(4) Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #4)
(5) Victoria Azarenka (BLR #5)
(6) Simona Halep (ROU #6)
(7) Roberta Vinci (ITA #7)
(8) Timea Bacsinszky (SUI #9)
(9) Venus Williams (USA #11)
(10) Petra Kvitova (CZE #12)
(11) Lucie Safarova (CZE #13)
(12) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP #14)
(13) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS #15)
(14) Ana Ivanovic (SRB #16)
(15) Madison Keys (USA #17)
(16) Sara Errani (ITA #18)

(17) Karolina Pliskova (CZE #19)
(18) Elina Svitolina (UKR #20)
(19) Sloane Stephens (USA #21)
(20) Johanna Konta (GBR #22)
(21) Samantha Stosur (AUS #23)
(22) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK #25)
(23) Jelena Jankovic (SRB #26)
(24) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS #27)
(25) Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU #28)
(26) Kristina Mladenovic (FRA #29)
(27) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS #30)
(28) Andrea Petkovic (GER #31)
(29) Daria Kasatkina (RUS #32)
(30) Barbora Strycova (CZE #33)
(31) Monica Niculescu (ROU #35)
(32) Jelena Ostapenko (LAT #36)

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

January was packed with plenty of amazing shots – we narrowed it down to the five best.

In the end, it Hot Shot Queen Agnieszka Radwanska, who turned defense to offense against Christina McHale at the Apia International Sydney. En route to the final, the former World No.2 used all her scrambling skills to end the rally with a screaming forehand winner.

Click here to watch all of January’s finalists.

Final Results for January’s WTA Shot Of The Month presented by Cambridge Global Payments

1. Agnieszka Radwanska (76%)
2. Julia Goerges (11%)
3. Yulia Putintseva  (7%)
3. Karolina Pliskova (4%)
5. Alizé Cornet (2%)

2016 WTA Shot of the Month Winners

January: Caroline Wozniacki
February: Agnieszka Radwanska
March: Agnieszka Radwanska
April: Monica Niculescu
May: Simona Halep
June: Agnieszka Radwanska
July: Simona Halep
August: Agnieszka Radwanska
September: Kirsten Flipkens
October: Angelique Kerber


How it works:

Five shots are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
 

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