game, set, match

US Open champ Iga Swiatek leads tennis superstars into North Texas for 2022 WTA Finals

Iga Swiatek is the No. 1 women's tennis player in the world.

Al Bello/Getty Images

UPDATE 10-29-22: The final eight singles players and doubles teams, and order of play, are now set. Find the match schedule and more at the WTA website.

---

Iga Swiatek is the No. 1 women's tennis player in the world.Fresh off her US Open victory, the world's No. 1 female tennis player, Iga Swiatek, will lead the top eight singles players and doubles teams into Fort Worth next month for the 2022 Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Finals.

The competition will take place October 31-November 7 at Dickies Arena, and tickets are now on sale.

The prestigious year-end finale has been moved to Fort Worth from Shenzhen, China, for one year only, WTA officials say. It's the first time the contest has been staged in North Texas, and the first time it's in the United States in 17 years.

“The Dickies Arena and the city of Fort Worth has a proven track record of hosting world class sporting and entertainment events, and we are excited to bring the WTA’s showpiece tournament back to the United States for the first time since 2005,” says Steve Simon, WTA Chairman and CEO, in a release. “This location and venue for the 2022 WTA Finals will provide a fantastic experience for players and fans alike and offer a fitting finale as another exciting season on the Hologic WTA Tour comes to a close.”

While the race to the top eight is still on, with several tournaments still to be played in coming weeks, both Swiatek and No. 2-ranked Ons Jabeur officially have qualified for the finals.

"I’m really excited to qualify for the WTA Finals this year for the second time in my career and I’m really looking forward to playing in front of the fans in Fort Worth,” Swiatek says in the release.

The top-ranked doubles team of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova also has qualified.

"We are really looking forward to playing in Fort Worth in Texas and hopefully defending our title," Krejcikova says.

Two American stars, Jessie Pegula and Coco Gauff, currently stand at No. 3 and 4 in singles, respectively. Together, they are the 4th-ranked doubles team in the world. If they maintain these standings or climb higher, North Texas fans will get to seem them play.

Coco Gauff is one of the top-ranked singles and doubles players. Julian Finney/Getty Images

As of press time, the top eight singles players are:

1. Iga Swiatek (Poland)

2. Ons Jabeur (Tunisia)

3. Jessie Pegula (USA)

4. Coco Gauff (USA)

5. Caroline Garcia (France)

6. Aryna Sabalenka*

7. Daria Kasatkina*

8. Simona Halep (Romania)

As of press time, the top eight doubles teams are:

1. Barbora Krejcikova (Cze) / Katerina Siniakova (Cze)

2. Gabriela Dabrowski (Can) / Giuliana Olmos (Mex)

3. Lyudmyla Kichenok (Ukr) / Jelena Ostapenko (Lat)

4. Jessie Pegula (USA) / Coco Gauff (USA)

5. Elise Mertens (Bel) / Veronika Kudermetova*

6. Yifan Xu (Chn) / Zhauxuan Yang (Chn)

7. Demi Schuurs (Ned) / Desirae Krawczyk (USA)

8. Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA) / Ellen Perez (Aus)

(*Per WTA style, players native to Russia do not have their country listed.)

Click here to follow the latest standings on the Race to the WTA Finals and here for the most up-to-date 2022 WTA Tour calendar.

All Session Tickets for the WTA Finals went on sale at 10 am Thursday, September 22, via Ticketmaster.

Single Session Tickets will go on sale at 10 am Tuesday, September 27, via Ticketmaster. (Venue presale is Monday, September 26 from 10 am-10 pm, CODE: SINGLES)

The WTA was founded by groundbreaking tennis legend Billie Jean King in 1983 on the principle of equal opportunity and has remained a global leader in women’s professional sports.

"The WTA is one of the world’s most recognizable and high-profile sports organizations, consisting of more than 1,600 players representing approximately 87 nations, all competing to earn WTA rankings, points, and prestigious tournament titles," the organization says. "The Hologic WTA Tour is annually comprised of around 50 events and four Grand Slams, spanning six continents and nearly 30 countries and regions with a global audience of over 900 million."

Keep up with the WTA at wtatennis.com.

celebrities sports-fitness

Movie Review

Andrew Garfield leads peasant rebellion in medieval film The Uprising

Photo by Betina La Plante/Focus Features

Andrew Garfield in The Uprising.

Writer/director Paul Greengrass made his name with a cinéma vérité style of filmmaking that brought immediacy and depth to three Jason Bourne films, United 93, Captain Phillips, and more. In The Uprising, he uses those skills to tell the story of the so-called Peasants’ Revolt in 14th century England.

Greengrass wastes no time starting the main plot as Ploughman (Andrew Garfield) and his fellow villagers object to onerous taxes put on them by the country’s nobility, led by the young King Richard II (Woody Norman), to fund an ongoing war. Ploughman initiates a violent response over the tone-deaf — and unseemly — way the king’s guard go about their business, and the rebellion soon starts to spread across the countryside, with the citizens looking for a degree of autonomy.

The ever-expanding group makes their way toward London to try to make their case to the king himself. Meanwhile, the king’s top advisors, including Archbishop Sudbury (Stephen Dillane) and Treasurer Hales (Tom Hollander), try to usurp power from the inexperienced monarch even as the king’s mother (Katherine Waterston) tries to get him to be more assertive.

The history of the English monarchy is long and lurid, as Shakespeare detailed in multiple plays, including Richard II. Though the events in the film took place almost 650 years ago, it’s easy to see parallels between what the peasants were fighting for and modern-day politics. Greengrass’ storytelling intent is solid, and the righteous anger the citizens feel is initially relatable and palpable.

But the populism theme of the story soon gets bogged down in drudgery and minutiae that is difficult to understand, especially when the details are lost in the thick regional English accents. The leaders of the rebels — including John Ball (Jamie Bell), Wat Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis), and Alyce (Thomasin McKenzie) — are shown doing a lot of planning, but the strong feelings they have about their quest don’t come across well, leaving the audience as passive observers.

When there is action, Greengrass and his team employ a frenetic style that is not great for comprehension. While the gist of what is happening and what side is winning is legible, individual moments go by so quickly so as to be nearly meaningless. Save for Ploughman, any connection that has been made with various characters proves futile, as Greengrass doesn’t seem to have any time for emotion. Scenes that should feel thrilling or heartbreaking instead come off as empty.

Garfield is a two-time Oscar nominee who has done great work across multiple genres. He’s fine in this role, but whether it’s the story, the filmmaking, or something else, he’s not as captivating as usual. The same goes for other strong actors like Bell, McKenzie, Dillane, Hollander, and Waterston, who each seem to be giving their all to their performances but are somehow muted in the process.

Done right, The Uprising could have been a rip-roaring account of people standing up against their oppressors. What Greengrass has made, though, is a film that can’t translate its medieval story for a modern audience and concentrates too much on unexciting elements and too little on thrilling ones.

---

The Uprising is now playing in theaters.

movies film reviews