There is already one verifiable improvement in Singaporean tennis since the WTA Finals moved to that steamy and affluent island city-state.
In 2014, the first year Singapore hosted the championships, no woman from the country held an official WTA ranking. Now, with the latest edition of the year-end tournament set to begin on Sunday, Stefanie Tan, a 24-year-old from Singapore who played tennis at Texas Christian University, is No. 547.
Tan, of course, has a long, long way to go to become a threat to qualify for the Finals, an annual showcase for the world’s top eight women’s singles players and doubles teams.