The WTA Finals Are All Over the Place...What Happens Next?

After hosting six of its last seven editions in different cities, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is exploring options for a new home for the WTA Finals beyond 2026, when the event’s current three-year stint in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ends.

While covering the Charleston Open, I spoke with Madison Keys, who said she’s still undecided on whether the Finals’ frequent host-site changes ultimately benefit the event. Jessica Pegula said she hopes to see the year-end championships grow to match their prestige.  I also spoke with Charleston tournament director Bob Moran, who revealed that multiple U.S. cities are in the running to host the Finals beginning in 2027, with Charlotte, North Carolina emerging as a frontrunner.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I mean, it's the thing that we all dream of playing. It's it's the event of the entire year that everyone is talking about. I mean, it's literally it's like the race to the finals. It's like the only thing that we talk about. I just hope that it ends up in a place that tennis fans get to see it and appreciate it, and it gets to be the event that it deserved to be.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Tennis's year-end championships are the most prestigious events outside of the four majors. And for good reason, only the best eight women and men compete in November at the tail end of a grueling 11-month season, fending off injuries and fatigue for one final big title before they undergo a brief offseason and then start the cycle all over again next year. The men's and women's tours have their own year-end championships, the ATP finals for the men and the WTA finals for the women. These are the staple events for the ATP and the WTA. The Tours don't own or operate any of the four majors, so they're really expected to do their big ones to showcase their respective tours. But there are a few distinct differences between how the ATP and the WTA host its year-end championships, the biggest being location stability. The ATP finals has remained in Europe since the beginning of the 2010s decade, first enjoying a 12-year tenure in London's O2 Arena before switching to Turin in 2021. The ATP finals will remain in Italy until 2030. The WT finals have been more dynamic, to say the least. The last seven iterations of the tournament have been held in six different locations. And recently the tour confirmed to Ben Rothenberg's bounces that they are exploring options for a new home after the 2026 finals following a three-year stint in the kingdom. I'll share more insights for my reporting while covering the Charleston Open, including perspectives from recent WT Finals competitors on the potential move and how the year and championships can evolve to better spotlight women's tennis. Hello, my name is Christian Bassnight, and welcome to Christian's Court where I cover tennis from all angles. If you have not yet already, make sure you subscribe and click that notification bell so you're notified whenever I post more news content like this. So in April 2024, the WTA announced that it would host its year-end championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 2024 to 2026. While some fans commended the WTA for securing a multi-year host and celebrated the record-breaking$15.25 million prize money pool, others were quick to condemn the move based on the country's human rights record. When the inaugural edition arrived, those concerns remained, but the event also faced criticism over meager crowd numbers. Sports Pro reported there being around 400 spectators and the 5,000 capacity King South University Indoor Arena on day two of the finals. Tickets were reportedly less than 10 US dollars for some round robin sessions. This stood in stark contrast to the ATP finals in Turin, where in 2024, all 15 sessions at the 12,000 seat NLP Arena were completely sold out. The WTA did see better crowd numbers the following year, 2025. The tour themselves saying the crowds were, quote, significantly better and more engaged. Madison Keys, who competed in Riyadh last year, echoed those sentiments during Media Day at the Charleston Open this week.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

We had very good fan support there, and it seemed like the people that were kind of coming back, they had kind of gone every year. It seemed like they become, they became more and more knowledgeable of tennis, of the players. So they were very into it. So I really loved that part of it. I don't have a whole lot of things to compare it to. So it was great for me. I mean, I think it's just one of those things where we've kind of bounced around the world a lot. So not totally surprised that we're looking to move somewhere else.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

He's right about that bouncing around the world part. 2018 was the final year of the championships, the second ever longest stint, five years in Singapore. Then in 2019, the tour moved to Shenzhen, China as part of a 10-year deal. Shenzhen's$14 million prize money pool doubled that of Singapore. It offered the then biggest prize money check in the history of men's and women's tennis when the undefeated champion Ash Bardy took home a$4.42 million prize purse. Elena Rabakina topped that six years later when she won the WTA Finals in Riyadh, taking home an unprecedented, record-breaking$5.2 million in prize money. But instead of 10 years, Shenzhen lasted just one. The finals was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ATP still held their UN championships in London without spectators. COVID was also a concern in 2021, so the finals were temporarily held in Guadalajara, Mexico. The announcement for Guadalajara was made less than two months before the finals started. Paulo Bedoso, who was a semifinalist in Guadalajara back in 2021, recently praised Mexico for its atmosphere and crowd passion. Although there were some critiques about the event being held outdoors in high altitude conditions. The year-end championships were set to return to Shenzhen in 2022, but in November 2021, two-time doubles major champion Pong Shui took to Weibo, accusing Zhang Gao Li, a former vice premier of China of assault. The post was deleted within 20 minutes, and Pong vanished from public view for several weeks, leading to global concern for her safety. As a result, the WTA took a bold stance. On December 1st, 2021, chairman and CEO Steve Simon announced a suspension of all tournaments in China and Hong Kong for the 2022 season. This, after his request to prove that Pong was free and able to speak without government intimidation, were unmet. So the WTA had to scramble for another finals host in 2022. That year they moved to Fort Worth, Texas for another one-year deal. Here, the finals returned indoors and would be played in the 14,000-seat Dickies Arena. Similar to Riad, fans criticized the number of empty seats in the arena throughout the tournament. Steve Simon even admitted the venue was, quote, probably a little big for us. It also didn't help from a marketing perspective to promote an event like this just two weeks in advance. But history repeated itself in 2023. That September, the tour announced the finals would return to Mexico, this time in the city of Cancun. The tour turned down multi-year bids in Saudi Arabia and Czechia. Czech businessman Tomas Petera, who organized a four-year,$15 million bid to host the year-end championships, heavily criticized the WTA's decision. Perhaps the tour was looking to recapture that passion and crowd atmosphere from Guadalajara. Also, Cancun's prize money pool rose to$9 million, up$4 million from Guadalajara and Fort Worth. But one could argue the prize money increase was not worth the PR nightmare for the tour and the chaos the players had to endure that week in Cancun. Tournament organizers built a temporary 4,000-seat stadium atop a golf course, which belonged to a hotel resort. Construction of the site reportedly cost up to$15 million. If true, that's a hefty amount of money to spend for a one-week event. Because the event wasn't confirmed until pretty later on in the season, workers had to rush to assemble the stadium until the very last minute. So last minute, players weren't allowed to practice on the match court until one day before play began. When matches eventually commenced, players experienced uneven ball bounces, with some saying the courts felt bumpy and unsafe. The world number one Arina Sabolenka even made an Instagram story post saying she felt disappointed and disrespected by the WTA and that she didn't feel safe moving on the court most times due to the inconsistent bounce. Other players like Elena Robakina, Marketa Vandrasova, and Igosh Fiantech echoed those sentiments. In addition to the poor court conditions, players had to endure horrible weather conditions. The finals were played during hurricane season, so torrential rains and high winds often delayed play, and the championship match was moved to Monday. So the following year, the WTA had to course correct and locked down an indoor, lucrative site host, and now here we are with Saudi Arabia. There were talks of a Saudi renewal after 2026, but it seems like not much has come from that, with the WTA, of course, seeking other options. The Saudi Tennis Federation recently backed out of a five-year deal to host the ATP next gen finals in Jeddah two years early. Perhaps the Federation wants to focus more of its attention on the upcoming ATP Masters 1000, which is set to start around 2028. The WTA moving away from Saudi Arabia might be a good idea, anyways, considering the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Madison Keyes brought up a great nuanced point during one of her press conferences in Charleston, in that on one hand, if you host the finals in one place for a good number of years, it has a really great chance to take off and grow overall as an event. But on the other hand, if you move it around a little bit, more fans from all over can experience the event. I think the event stints in cities like Doha, Istanbul, Singapore, and most recently Guadalajara were instrumental in bringing successful WTA tournaments to those cities years after the finals were played there. So overall, they're really accomplishing their mission of growing the sport globally. Keyes also said that wherever the WTA finals moves next, she hopes it's at a city where tennis fans will support the event and help reach its fullest potential. As I mentioned earlier, Ben Rothenberg reported Charlotte, North Carolina is the leading candidate to take over the WTA Finals in 2027. Charlotte hasn't hosted a pro tennis tournament since 1977, but the city came very, very close to hosting a joint 1000-level tournament just a few years ago. Billionaire Ben Navarro, also the father of WTA player M. Navarro, owns BMOC Capital, which bought the rights to the Cincinnati Open in 2022. Navarro looked to move the event to Charlotte, seeking a more modern home for his reported$300 million investment. Charlotte City Council members advocated for a$400 million plan dubbed Project Breakpoint, in which a new facility will be built from scratch. Those costs proved a bit too high though, so Navarro kept the tournament in Cincinnati and launched a$260 million site renovation to the existing Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio. The loss didn't stop Charlotte from bringing professional tennis to the city though. In 2024, the Charlotte Sports Foundation launched the Charlotte Invitational Exhibition, starring Carlos Alcaraz, Francis Tiafo, Madison Keyes, and Sloan Stevens. The event hosted a crowd of 16,194 people and the 19,000 plus capacity Spectrum Center Arena, which is home to the Charlotte Hornets NBA team. In 2025, attendance dipped 35% to 10,592, with the four headlining players being Venus Williams, Taylor Fritz, in addition to Tiafo and Keyes again. To be fair, 2025's edition was held on a weeknight, a Thursday, while 2024 was on a Friday, so it'd be more convenient for people from traveling further out to attend the event on a Friday. I attended both years and I'd say it was pretty successful overall. The crowd was very passionate, and you could tell they truly love tennis. Madison told me she had an amazing time in Charlotte and thinks the city would be a great host for the finals.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

It's such a sport city tennis city, so I mean it was phenomenal. The fans were great. So I think it would be a great city to host just because you already have so many fans built in, and I think the city would just be so excited to be able to come out and support the WTA.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Charlotte might be the current frontrunner to host the finals, but nothing set in stone yet. There are talks of Czechia and even Poland bidding to host the year and championships. Bob Moran, the tournament director of both the Charleston and Cincinnati Opens, and the president of BMOX Sports and Entertainment, confirmed to me that some European cities are in the running and that there are even some other U.S. cities interested in hosting the finals.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

This is part of a process, right? When we went to market last time, you know, Saudi Arabia was uh the winner of that process for a three-year. Now I think they're still interested and they'll still go through the process. But there's we're going through an RFP process what's after this year or what comes. And so I think we're seeing, you know, the interest. Obviously, I saw the article about Charlotte, and I know there's other what I would saw, what I would say are America-based cities that are interested. I also know there's European cities that are interested, and I'm sure there's cities in um the Asia Pacific region that'd be interested. It's just gonna play out, right? It's part of the process. I don't know exactly where we stand when it comes to the bid process. Obviously, I've read that architect Charlotte. I love that a city like Charlotte's interested. We're a big fan of Charlotte, right up the road from us here. Um I love that there's U.S. cities that are interested. I think ultimately at the end of the day, we need to make sure the financial investment's right, we gotta make sure the viewership's right, and we gotta make sure the attendance's right. Those three things have to all be considered when we're going through this process.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

I think the WTA finals would do well in the United States. Last year, half of the eight women in Riyadh and singles were American. So I think if a similar trend continues for 2027, there'd be a great crowd participation and demand. But I also think Europe is long overdue to host the finals. The finals have only been played in Europe three years. In 2001, Munich hosted the championships for one year after the finals were in Madison Square Garden from 1979 to 2000. Following a four-year stint in Los Angeles' Staples Center, Madrid hosted the finals in 2006 and 2007, and that's the last of Europe hosting the championships. Wherever the finals land in 2027, many players agree the event still has room to grow in order to reach the stature it deserves. World number five, Jessica Pagula, who competed at the WT Finals the past four years, said the tour can do better to promote its staple event.

SPEAKER_03 13:41

I mean, I feel like still it needs to grow into an event that kind of showcases like the pinnacle of our sport. And like obviously we have all the slams and stuff like that, which are amazing, but I do feel like in regards to like the HTTP files, it's a little bit bigger, and I feel like the WTA file still has a little bit of ways to go. Um because I mean it is it's really tough to get the best players of that year and to win that is a really big deal. But I feel like still uh marketing-wise, maybe it's a little lost sometimes. And I know very long years, you know, I think sometimes at the end of the year people maybe check out a little bit of spans or something like that, but I think it's really important, and so I hope we can just continue to grow that. Um, I always use like the golf as an example, like the FedEx, you know, finals is a huge deal, and so I would love to see it just continue to grow into something like that, especially regarding you know our top theme athletes in the world.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Personally, I agree with JPEG. I think marketing and promotion-wise, the tour could have executed things differently from the anticlimactic draw ceremony, the lack of a true spectacle for media day. I also don't understand the point of having the players get all dressed up and not allowing them to post their fits until a day later. I feel like the media should have been there to capture them all dressed up and ask them questions all dressed up, but alas, I do think though that the WTA is moving in the right direction. It's always gonna be hard with them kind of playing catch up to the ATP, but they've been making big gains, investing more in their marketing and striving towards equal price money at the 500-level event. So hopefully, by the time the 2027 WTA finals arrive, the event will evolve into the kind of season-defining stage that players, fans, and the tour can truly be proud of. That's all I have for this video. Let me know your thoughts on the WTA Finals looking to move away from Saudi Arabia. Would you like to see it in Saudi Arabia for a few more years? Bob did say the Saudis were still in talks of negotiations, so perhaps they could keep it, but I doubt it honestly. Also, let me know in the comments where you would like the finals to be held next. And do you rather the finals be more stationary for a while, or do you enjoy how it kind of moves around a lot of different locations? Also, big shout out to Ben Rothenberg and his reporting on this kind of breaking news. The link to his balances article will be in the description. Again, make sure you subscribe and click the notification bell so you're notified whenever I post more developments on this ongoing story. Thank you all so much for watching and for your support. I will see you all next time here on Christians Court.