DOHA, Qatar -- After a wide-open year in which five players held the No. 1 ranking, Serena Williams enters the WTA Tour's season-ending championship with a goal in mind and her sense of humor intact.
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"I need the money," she said.
Williams won the championship in 2001 and will be chasing a prize in which the winner collects as much as $1.34 million.
Three of the five No. 1 players this year will be competing in the $4.55 million Sony Ericsson Championships that begins Tuesday: top-ranked Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Williams.
Ivanovic showed some of her old game last month by winning a title in Linz, Austria, her first since the French Open in June.
"I think we're all a little bit tired and we have a long season behind us," she said. "I feel my game is back on a level before my injury."
With the abrupt retirement of Justine Henin in May at 25, the women have been playing a game of musical chairs at the top. The other No. 1 player during 2008 was Maria Sharapova, who is out with a shoulder injury.
"In the beginning ... there was a spot open for everybody," Jankovic said Monday. "I'm really proud of myself that, you know, I could cope with all the pressure, and I could get all the points and secure my No. 1 ranking for the rest of the year."
Jankovic has won four titles this year but no major. Williams, ranked No. 3, won the U.S. Open for her ninth major. Ivanovic won her first major at the French but slid to No. 4 after a string of losses linked to thigh and thumb injuries and lack of confidence.
Completing the eight-player field are Wimbledon winner Venus Williams and the Russian contingent of No. 2 Dinara Safina, former U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva and No. 9 Vera Zvonareva.
In Doha, the White Group is made up of Jankovic, Ivanovic, Kuznetsova and Zvonareva. The Williams sisters, Safina and Dementieva are in the Maroon Group. The top two players in each advance to elimination rounds. In addition, a doubles tournament will feature the world's top four teams.
On Tuesday, round-robin play starts at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex with Kuznetsova vs. Zvonareva, Jankovic vs. Ivanovic and Safina vs. Venus Williams.
The championships were held in Madrid, Spain in 2006 and 2007, with Henin winning both times. Before Spain, the tournament was mostly held in the United States. The switch to the Gulf reflects the lure of an energy-rich region that can offset an unrefined tennis culture with considerable commercial backing.
Qatar will host the season-ending tournament for three years, after which the championships will shift to Istanbul, Turkey.
These championships come amid WTA plans to reduce the number of compulsory events for top players during 2009. Some tournaments will be mandatory, with possible suspensions for those not complying. The purpose is to build profits and ease the burnout and injuries that often accompany a heavy schedule.
"It creates a stronger business model for not only the players but the tournaments," Venus Williams said. "I feel like the road map is a great thing."
