The top eight players and the top four doubles teams in the 2008 WTA Tour will qualify for the Championships. Two more players will also come to Doha as reserves. Should any player withdraw, they will enter the tournament.
On 30 July, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic became the first two players to qualify for the year-end championships. Following a surging 2007, Janković started the year at the Hopman Cup where she partnered with Novak Djokovic to reach the final, losing out to United States' Serena Williams and Mardy Fish. She reached the semifinals of the Australian Open a few weeks after falling to Maria Sharapova, the eventual champion where she beat Serena Williams en route in the quarterfinals. In February and March, she reached a lone final at the Sony Ericsson Open losing to Serena Williams 1-6, 7-5, 3-6. She further reached two semifinals and two quarterfinals. In the clay season, Janković won the Italian Open for the second straight year against surprise finalist Alize Cornet who was an 18-year-old qualifier. At the French Open, she reached her third straight major semifinal but fell in three grueling sets to once again the eventual champion in Ana Ivanovic, a match that decided the new World No. 1. Jankovic then headed straight to Wimbledon where she lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the fourth round. Jankovic eventually became the 18th female No. 1, replacing compatriot Ivanovic on August 11. At the Beijing Olympics, she lost to eventual silver medalist Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals. At the US Open, Jankovic beat Elena Dementieva in the final four to reach her first Grand Slam final but lost to Serena Williams. In the fall season, she won three consecutive tournaments at the China Open, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and the Kremlin Cup justifying her return to the top spot. Ana Ivanovic began the 2008 season by reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open where she lost to Maria Sharapova in straight sets. She then managed to win her sixth title and third Tier I title in Indian Wells, beating Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals and finals respectively. Following a mediocre pre-French Open season where she failed to defend her title in Berlin, she entered Roland Garros as the second seed and favourite. She lived up to that expectation by winning her first Grand Slam and becoming the first Serbian to reach the No. 1 spot, virtue of beating compatriot Jankovic in the semifinals. She defeated first-time Grand Slam finalist Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-3. In her first tournament as the new world No. 1 at Wimbledon, she was upset in the third round by Chinese wildcard Zheng Jie. Following a disappointing Wimbledon campaign, she suffered an injury-marred US Open Series as she withdrew from Los Angeles and the Olympics, which Ivanovic described as "one of the worst moments in my career". She played only one tournament which was at the Rogers Cup and was eliminated in the third round. As the top seed for the US Open, she suffered for the second straight major a loss to a player ranked outside the top 100 in French qualifier Julie Coin. She returned to form in October by winning the indoor tournament in Linz as well as reach the semifinals at the Kremlin Cup. On 4 September, Serena Williams and Dinara Safina were announced as the third and fourth qualifiers for the Championships. won her third US Open title. Serena Williams started the year at the Hopman Cup where she teamed up with Mardy Fish to win it for the US. At the Australian Open, she made the quarterfinals losing to Jelena Jankovic. won four titles during the year. On 18 September, Elena Dementieva became the fifth qualifier for the Championships. won Olympic Gold. won her fifth Wimbledon title. On 17 October, by reaching the quarterfinals at the Kremlin Cup, Svetlana Kuznetsova was confirmed as the sixth qualifier. qualifies for the third straight year. On 25 October, the final two spots were taken by Vera Zvonareva and Venus Williams.
In doubles, team Cara Black and Liezel Huber qualified with convincing lead with more than 6,000 points, while other three teams all failed to collect even a half of that number of points, with all of them being around 2,000.
