At its recent Championships in Madrid the WTA agreed to launch a tournament selection process as part of its Roadmap 2010 for the future of women’s tennis. A final decision on a new tournament schedule will be agreed by March 2007.
The new schedule is intended to shorten the season and get the top players facing each other more.
"Today marks a shift into the implementation phase of the Roadmap 2010 that will deliver to fans the stars and rivalries they want to see, and that addresses the issue of player withdrawals caused by a season that is simply too long and gruelling," WTA chief Larry Scott said in a statement.
"It will be more streamlined and logical so that our biggest stages are bigger and consistently feature the best players competing against one another. This is what our fans, players, tournaments, broadcasters and commercial partners deserve, and what our Roadmap plan will deliver by 2009."
