Frivolous Idle Distraction Trivia (Guessing) 'Game' - GBR WTA millionaires

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Frivolous Idle Distraction Trivia (Guessing) 'Game' - GBR WTA millionaires

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

I didn't even get past question 1 - I came up with a good list, but it had 8 players and I guessed incorrectly which one was just short of $1m.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Virginia Wade
Heather Watson
Anne Keothavong
Laura Robson
Jo Durie
Sue Barker
Elena Baltacha

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Pretty bad at this sort of thing but Jo Konta must definitely be on the list, Jag - prize money has gone up a lot so it's a lot easier to get to million now than it was for Ginny Wade, say. And her Aussie performance this year got her about half a mill in itself.

indiana · Tennis legend

1. Elena Baltacha
2. Heather Watson
3. Laura Robson
4. Anne Keothavong
5. Jo Konta
6. Jo Durie
7. Sam Smith

-- Edited by indiana on Sunday 28th of February 2016 05:17:41 PM

cwej · Lower Club Player

I'm pretty sure Heather has the highest earnings of any woman ever from GB.

1. Heather Watson - I'd place her something like 200 on the all-time list maybe? Bearing in mind inflation of the tournaments over the years and her consistency for the last few years.
2. Jo Konta
3. Virginia Wade
4. Elena Baltacha
5. Anne Keothavong
6. Laura Robson
7. Jo Durie

would be my guess.

-- Edited by cwej on Sunday 28th of February 2016 05:22:13 PM

steven · Tennis legend

I think (not 100% sure though!) I remember who the top two are from when one overtook the other and I think no. 2 was just over $1.5m, in which case JoKo won't have caught her just yet.

The top 8 are pretty obvious and I'd guess it's between Jo Durie and Sue Barker for the last spot - I'm going to go for the latter because even though she didn't win a slam like Sue, she spent longer in the top 10 and did it about a decade later. For order below the top two, it's not easy to estimate the correct weightings for how high players reached, how long they've spent in the top 100/top 50 overall, how well they've done at the biggest money events (i.e. slams) and which decade/s they did it in.

So, for 1. and 2., let's go for:

1) Heather Watson
2) Virginia Wade
3) Jo Konta
4-7) Anne Keothavong, Elena Baltacha, Laura Robson, Jo Durie (in that order, I'd guess but it's probably very close!)

3. About 250, I'd guess.

I'd be interested to know for future reference where you found the list, IF - I've only ever seen a top 100 list for WTA career earnings, which I'm going to admit to using to help with the bonus questions, which would otherwise be next to impossible!

Bonus:

Guessing an average for those 7 of about $1.35m makes a total just under $9.5m, which would be enough for 39th place, supplanting Chris Evert. I'm hoping the fact that it's a very famous player (making IF more likely to include it as a question?) and there's a gap of nearly $1m up to the next player (so the answer works if the GB top 7 average is anywhere between $1.27m and $1.40m) means there's a fair chance that's correct

WD40 · Club Coach

Player Prize Money (US$)
Heather Watson 1,766,791
Virginia Wade 1,542,278
Johanna Konta 1,420,453
Anne Keothavong 1,303,091
Laura Robson 1,284,537
Jo Durie 1,224,016
Elena Baltacha 1,190,893
Sue Barker 878,701

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

OK!
Some very good efforts, and thanks all for playing.

So, WD40 has rather stolen my thunder here
My source agrees with their figures

Heather Watson $1,766,791
Virginia Wade $1,542,278
Johanna Konta $1,420,453
Anne Keothavong $1,303,091
Laura Robson $1,284,537
Jo Durie $1,224,016
Elena Baltacha $1,190,893

I was very surprised to see Virginia at #2! Only slightly less surprised to see Bally behind, and so far behind, Annie K.

Our Head Girl, Hev, is 196th on the all time rank of WTA earners.

The combined total for our 'Magnificent Seven' is: $9,732,059
That would place them at... 39th, displacing... Chris Evert!

So, the lesson here is that, for having got that last one right, Steven is confirmed as the paramount 'Tennis Nerd', as if there was every any doubt
I really didn't think, even with the top 100 all time list, anyone would deduce that position and name; hence I gave it so many points.

As to the source, that is the WTA publication, which they never publicise (and so I thought people searching for it would have a hard time), which can be found here.

Congratulations to all Tennis Nerds!

cwej · Lower Club Player

Wow - my guess of 200th was pretty good then!! :D

Bally may be 3 places behind Anne, but to be honest, places 4th-7th are pretty close in earnings. Bally probably had slightly more injury time out than Anne, even with Anne's two operations and Bally was much later to reach the top 100 wasn't she?

-- Edited by cwej on Monday 29th of February 2016 01:24:57 AM

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Haha I forgot about Jo otherwise I was pretty much bang on roughly. Still laughing I'm missed Jo which would have been the easiest. I actually remember the day Bally made the million think I commented the day it happened.

Etienne · Club Coach

Do these figures include doubles?

christ · Futures level

Supplementary question: Where would they be in the men's league table?

Sim · County player

Sue Barker hasn't done too badly financially despite not making the top 7....

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Etienne wrote:
Do these figures include doubles?

I think it must, because doubles specialists, such as Lisa Raymond (37) & Liezel Huber (57), are represented with earnings, and rankings, that would be unreflective of their achievements in singles alone.

christ wrote:
Supplementary question: Where would they be in the men's league table?

I'm sorry, I don't know much at all about where to get analogous stats for the ATP. Perhaps someone else will now.
I suspect they'd fare quite well somewhere in behind Andy, Greg & Tim.