2021 WTA Finals Preview and Schedule: The story of the road to Guadalajara

The groups are revealed and the start of the WTA Finals in Guadalajara are upon us with the return of the curtain closer for the season taking place between November 10-17.

This preview looks at how each player got to this point as well as who is absent from this year's field whether previously qualified or not.

Leading Group Chichén Itzá is the top seed in Mexico in Aryna Sabalenka.

Taking the defacto role as the top player through Ashleigh Barty's withdrawal from the field, the Belarusian has continued her ascent like many in the field during the last 18 months.

Two semi-finals in Grand Slams in 2021 at Wimbledon and the US Open, a breakthrough was mooted at the start of the season where she went on a winning streak including winning Abu Dhabi.

It was Madrid that really saw the breakout though as she saw off Ashleigh Barty in the final to win her fourth WTA 1000 event. Her Wimbledon run followed and as did her ascent to World Number Two.

This form was maintained with only Leylah Fernandez run stopping her from reaching a maiden Grand Slam final which will be next on the agenda. A positive Covid-19 test threatened to derail her hopes with Indian Wells sat out so her form is a potential question mark.

The same can be said for the next highest seed in the group in Maria Sakkari.

Pulling out of her Moscow semi-final but likely due to the impending trip to Mexico, there will also be question marks but what can't be denied is her form over the past 18 months.

The Greek is up to a career high of World No.6 and since adding Tom Hill as her coach has gone from strength to strength in their multi year partnership.

Reaching the semi-finals at the French Open and US Open, many will feel that Sakkari had both titles potentially in her grasp.

Both going to surprise packages in Barbora Krejcikova (also in the field) and Emma Raducanu but both were a show of the improvement Sakkari has made.

Losing nine straight WTA semi-finals before facing Anett Kontaveit in Ostrava was also a show of the steady improvement for a player who has not had a title since winning in Morocco in 2019.

Finally getting the acclaim befitting of her form, could Sakkari add the WTA Finals to end a brilliant season?

The now 20 year old former French Open champion will make a WTA Finals debut which was denied during her breakthrough 2020.

Becoming the first Polish player to win a Grand Slam in history and the youngest since Rafael Nadal to win at Roland Garros, the rise of Swiatek has been incredible to see.

2021 has seen victories in Adelaide for her first WTA Tour title as well as in Rome where she produced one of the most emphatic final wins of the year bagelling Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in 46 minutes showing her prowess on clay.

This was shown again in Paris as despite not winning the title, she breezed through 22 straight sets before coming unstuck against Sakkari.

She also reached the second week at all of this year's Grand Slams which was especially an achievement at Wimbledon, a surface where she had hardly no experience despite her high seeding.

Could Swiatek be one of the main favourites to lift the title on form alone?

The same can be said for Paula Badosa who like most of the field has only emerged in the past 12 months but has already risen to become one of the top stars of the WTA Tour.

Like Swiatek, it was clay where Badosa shined showing glimpses in 2020 losing to Genie Bouchard in Istanbul and recording two wins at Roland Garros.

This was further shown in Charleston with a semi-final run before multiple clay court semi-finals winning at the Serbia Open.

Following that, it was a run to the Quarter-Finals of a major for the first time at the French Open before heat exhaustion paid heed to a potential gold medal charge at the Olympic Games.

Parting ways with Javier Marti, it looked like a potentially poor decision but Badosa knew best reaching the semi's in Cincinnati and winning her first WTA 1000 at Indian Wells. A player to watch.

In an era which has seen Petra Kvitova emerge as the top Czech name, it is Barbora Krejcikova and Karolina Pliskova who have took the mantle on.

Krejcikova who will have double duty as the top seed in the WTA Doubles Finals with Katerina Siniakova also from the Czech Republic has risen from #74 to #3 in the space of a year.

Like many in the field, she made steady progress throughout early 2021 including a final in Doha before claiming Internationaux de Strasbourg which was a dominant run but not many would have predicted, it would have led to French Open glory.

Which it did on both fronts in singles and doubles seeing off Maria Sakkari in the semi's before taking on fellow surprise package of sorts, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova becoming the first Czech champion in the tournament in 40 years.

Further runs followed at Wimbledon and the US Open backing up her clay court prowess with only Barty and Sabalenka stopping her.

While for Pliskova, she has become one of the staples of the tournament qualifying mainly due to reaching the final of Wimbledon.

It is a fifth straight showing for the fellow Czech ace who will count on her experience in the tournament and reaching the semi-finals on three previous occasions. Could this finally be her time?

The last two in the field are two players who differ in Garbine Muguruza who has risen again in a stellar career, while Anett Kontaveit has risen to the top in a remarkable turnaround in her career.

It is hard to remember given the season the Spaniard has had that at the last WTA Finals, she was out of the top 30 and on the decline.

But the coaching of Conchita Martinez and revived fortunes heralded an Australian Open final last year and titles in Dubai and Chicago as well as returning to the top ten this year.

Spending her last few weeks preparing in Geneva, a tough schedule to qualify for this tournament will hopefully be worth it but after the past two years, making a return to the top has shown the resilience of the former Grand Slam winner.

As has the rise of Anett Kontaveit with the Estonian turning consistency into wins this season.

2019 saw her reach the semi-finals in Miami and reach the top 15, while 2020 saw a first Grand Slam Quarter-Final and her good results continue.

Before a year which saw an incredible run all the way to Mexico. Four titles including taking the race to the wire in Moscow and Cluj-Napoca.

Kontaveit comes into this tournament with the most tennis under her belt of any of the field this season and knowing her love for winning titles could translate on her debut.

Her rise in winning all four can also be credited to her new coach, Dmitry Tursunov who split with Aryna Sabalenka once more and joined up with Kontaveit in August.

Since then, every title has been won in Cleveland, Ostrava, Moscow and Cluj-Napoca under his coaching and has been one of the best success stories of this WTA season.

Among those absent include Ashleigh Barty as previously mentioned who spent her full season away from home and with the hard quarantine still in place, heading to Mexico with the Australian Open only a few months away wasn't on the cards.

While for many, they didn't qualify. These included Emma Raducanu who was mainly due to her stark rise meaning her US Open triumph wasn't enough to qualify. The same can be said for Leylah Fernandez.

For Naomi Osaka, curtailing her season early and not playing many tour events meant it wasn't enough. While for the likes of Bianca Andreescu, Simona Halep, Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka etc, they were not in contention for a spot.

21:00 - (2) Barbora Krejcikova - (8) Anett Kontaveit

02:30 - (3) Karolina Pliskova - (6) Garbine Muguruza