The WTA Tour is the elite tour for professional women's tennis circuit, organized by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). The 1996 WTA Tour included the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tier I, Tier II, Tier III and Tier IV events. ITF tournaments are not officially part of the WTA Tour, although they award points for the WTA World Ranking.
Schedule
The table below shows the 1996 WTA Tour schedule.
- Key
| Grand Slam events |
| Summer Olympic Games |
| Year-end championships |
| Tier I events |
| Tier II events |
| Tier III events |
| Tier IV events |
| Team events |
January
February
March
| Week | Tournament | Champions | Runners-up | Semifinalists | Quarterfinalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Mar | State Farm Evert Cup Indian Wells, United States Tier I event Hard – $550,000 – 56S/28D Singles – Doubles |
 Steffi Graf7–6, 7–6 |
 Conchita Martínez |
 Lindsay Davenport Kimiko Date |
 Amanda Coetzer Chanda Rubin Nathalie Tauziat Lindsay Lee
|
Chanda Rubin  Brenda Schultz-McCarthy6–1, 6–4 |
Julie Halard-Decugis Nathalie Tauziat
| ||||
| 21 Mar | Lipton Championships Key Biscayne, United States Tier I event Hard – $1,550,000 – 96S/48D Singles – Doubles |
Steffi Graf 6–1, 6–3 |
Chanda Rubin |
Lindsay Davenport Karina Habšudová |
Kimiko Date Anke Huber Gabriela Sabatini Irina Spîrlea
|
 Jana Novotná Arantxa Sánchez Vicario6–4, 6–4 |
Meredith McGrath  Larisa Neiland
|
April
May
June
July
| Week | Tournament | Champions | Runners-up | Semifinalists | Quarterfinalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Jul | Fed Cup Semifinals Nagoya, Japan, Carpet (i) Bayonne, France, Carpet (i) |
Semifinals winners United States 5–0 Spain 3-2 |
Semifinals losers Japan France |
||
| 15 Jul | Torneo Internazionali Femminili di Palermo Palermo, Italy Tier IV event Clay – $107,500 – 32S/16D Singles – Doubles |
 Barbara Schett6–3, 6–3 |
Sabine Hack |
Jana Kandarr Silvia Farina |
 Stephanie Devillé Sandra Dopfer Sarah Pitkowski Henrieta Nagyová
|
| Janette Husárová Barbara Schett 6–1, 6–2 |
Florencia Labat Barbara Rittner
| ||||
| 23 Jul | Summer Olympics Atlanta, United States Summer Olympics Hard – 64S/32D Singles – Doubles |
 Gold |
 Silver |
 Bronze |
Fourth Place |
| Lindsay Davenport 7–6(8), 6–2 |
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario |
Jana Novotná 7–6(8), 6–4 |
Mary Joe Fernández
| ||
| Gigi Fernández Mary Joe Fernández 7–6(6), 6–4 |
Jana Novotná Helena Suková |
Conchita Martínez Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6–1, 6–3 |
Manon Bollegraf Brenda Schultz-McCarthy
|
August
September
October
November
Statistical Information
These tables present the number of singles (S), doubles (D), and mixed doubles (X) titles won by each player and each nation during the season, within all the tournament categories of the 1996 WTA World Tour: the Grand Slam tournaments, the Year-end championships and the Tier I, Tier II, Tier III and Tier IV tournaments. The players/nations are sorted by:
- total number of titles (a doubles title won by two players representing the same nation counts as only one win for the nation);
- highest amount of highest category tournaments (for example, having a single Grand Slam gives preference over any kind of combination without a Grand Slam title);
- a singles > doubles > mixed doubles hierarchy;
- alphabetical order (by family names for players).
Titles won by player
| Total titles | Player | Grand Slam tournaments |
Year-end championships |
Tier I tournaments |
Tier II tournaments |
Tier III tournaments |
Tier IV tournaments |
All titles | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | D | X | S | D | S | D | S | D | S | D | S | D | S | D | X | ||
| 11 | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario |
1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 0 | ||||||||
| 1 | Sandra Cacic |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Els Callens |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Julie Halard-Decugis |
1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2 |  Yayuk Basuki |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Monica Seles |
1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Lindsay Davenport |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | ||||||||
| 4 | Mary Joe Fernández |
1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Chanda Rubin |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |||||||||
| 6 | Larisa Neiland |
1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | ||||||||
| 2 |  Iva Majoli |
1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Kyōko Nagatsuka |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Gigi Fernández |
1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 3 |  Natasha Zvereva |
1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Kristie Boogert |
2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |||||||||||
| 10 | Jana Novotná |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 0 | |||||||||
| 4 | Meredith McGrath |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |||||||||
| 6 | Brenda Schultz-McCarthy |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 0 | |||||||||
| 1 | Sabine Appelmans |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Manon Bollegraf [a] |
1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Steffi Graf |
3 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Irina Spîrlea |
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| Linda Wild |
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| Rika Hiraki |
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| Naoko Kijimuta |
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| Kimiko Date |
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| Ai Sugiyama |
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| Gloria Pizzichini |
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| Laura Montalvo |
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| Paola Suárez |
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List of players and singles titles won, last name alphabetically:
- Steffi Graf – Indian Wells, Miami, Berlin, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, WTA Championships (7)
- Monica Seles – Sydney, Australian Open, Eastbourne, Montreal, Tokyo (Tier II) (5)
- Jana Novotná – Madrid, Zurich, Chicago, Philadelphia (4)
- Ruxandra Dragomir – Budapest, Karlovy Vary, Pattaya City (3)
- Anke Huber – Rosmalen, Leipzig, Luxembourg (3)
- Kimiko Date – Tokyo (Tier III), San Diego (2)
- Lindsay Davenport – Strasbourg, Manhattan Beach (2)
- Julie Halard-Decugis – Hobart, Paris (2)
Martina Hingis – Filderstadt, Oakland (2)- Iva Majoli – Tokyo (Tier I), Essen (2)
- Conchita Martínez – Rome, Moscow (2)
- Arantxa Sánchez Vicario – Hilton Head, Hamburg (2)
Shi-Ting Wang – Surabaya, Beijing (2)- Sandra Cacic – Auckland (1)
- Meredith McGrath – Birmingham (1)
- Henrieta Nagyová – Warsaw (1)
- Barbara Paulus – Maria Lankowitz (1)
- Gloria Pizzichini – Bol (1)
- Lisa Raymond – Quebec City (1)
- Barbara Schett – Palermo (1)
- Brenda Schultz-McCarthy – Oklahoma City (1)
- Irina Spîrlea – Amelia Island (1)
- Dominique Van Roost – Cardiff (1)
- Linda Wild – Jakarta (1)
The following players won their first title:
- Sandra Cacic
- Gloria Pizzichini
- Ruxandra Dragomir
- Dominique Van Roost
- Barbara Schett
- Henrieta Nagyová
- Martina Hingis
- Lisa Raymond
Rankings
Below are the 1996 WTA year-end rankings in both singles and doubles competition:
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See also
References
- ^ Hill, James (2011-11-11). "Corel WTA Tour Rankings Rank Date: 23 November 1996" (PDF). WTA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-11. Retrieved 2011-05-24.
- ^ Hill, James (2011-11-11). "Corel WTA Tour Rankings Rank Date: 23 November 1996" (PDF). WTA. Retrieved 2011-05-24.