2012 WTA Tour

2012 WTA Tour
Victoria Azarenka finished the year as WTA world No. 1 for the first time in her career, though Serena Williams was named the Player of the Year. Azarenka won six singles tournaments during the season, including a major at the Australian Open. She also won three Premier Mandatory and Premier 5 events, finished runner-up at another major at the US Open, and won a bronze medal in singles at the London Olympics. Williams won seven singles tournaments during the season, including two majors at the Wimbledon Championships and the US Open, the gold medal in singles at the London Olympics, the WTA Tour Championships, and a Premier Mandatory event.
Details
DurationDecember 31, 2011 – November 4, 2012
Edition42nd
Tournaments57
CategoriesGrand Slam (4)
WTA Championships (2)
Summer Olympics
WTA Premier Mandatory (4)
WTA Premier 5 (5)
WTA Premier (12)
WTA International (29)
Achievements (singles)
Most tournament titlesUnited States Serena Williams (7)
Most tournament finalsBelarus Victoria Azarenka
Russia Maria Sharapova (9)
Prize money leaderBelarus Victoria Azarenka
(US$7,928,920)
Points leaderBelarus Victoria Azarenka (10,595)
Awards
Player of the yearUnited States Serena Williams
Doubles team of the year
Most improved
player of the year
Italy Sara Errani
Newcomer of the yearUnited Kingdom Laura Robson
Comeback
player of the year
Kazakhstan Yaroslava Shvedova
2011
2013

The 2012 WTA Tour is the elite professional tennis circuit organized by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2012 tennis season. The 2012 WTA Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments (supervised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF)), the WTA Premier tournaments (Premier Mandatory, Premier 5, and regular Premier), the WTA International tournaments, the Fed Cup (organized by the ITF), the year-end championships (the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tournament of Champions), and the tennis event at the Summer Olympic Games. Also included in the 2012 calendar is the Hopman Cup, which is organized by the ITF and does not distribute ranking points.[1]

Victoria Azarenka (left) became the first Belarusian to win a singles major title at the Australian Open, defeating Maria Sharapova in the final to also become the new world No. 1. Sharapova (middle) rebounded at the French Open, winning her fourth major and completing the career Grand Slam by defeating Sara Errani in the final. At Wimbledon and the US Open, Serena Williams (right) won her 14th and 15th major titles by beating Agnieszka Radwańska and Azarenka, respectively, in the finals for her fifth Wimbledon and fourth US Open triumphs. And at the London Olympics, Serena Williams won the gold medal by defeating Sharapova in the final, becoming the second woman to complete the career Golden Slam in singles.
  1. ^ "2012 WTA calendar" (PDF). wtatennis.com. WTA Tour, Inc. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-27. Retrieved 2011-10-09.