{"id":532969,"date":"2026-04-15T22:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T22:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/532969\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T22:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T22:06:13","slug":"why-wta-tour-finals-is-leaving-saudi-arabia-and-the-future-of-womens-tennis-flagship-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/532969\/","title":{"rendered":"Why WTA Tour Finals is leaving Saudi Arabia, and the future of women\u2019s tennis\u2019 flagship event"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last November. A concrete bunker under an arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<\/a>, serving as the office of women\u2019s tennis<\/a> chief executive Portia Archer. Inside the arena, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina<\/a>, two of the eight best players in the world, are about to play for the biggest winner\u2019s check in women\u2019s sports history at the WTA Tour Finals<\/a>, the flagship, season-ending event.<\/p>\n

Inside the bunker, Archer is looking further into the future. The WTA Tour would be thrilled, she says<\/a>, to extend its agreement with the Saudi Tennis Federation<\/a>\u00a0beyond the original three-year deal, ending in November 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d actually enjoy being here for even longer than we have been or than we agreed to be here,\u201d Archer says during an interview, expounding on the community events for women and girls in the kingdom, and the education of new fans by legends and luminaries of women\u2019s tennis.<\/p>\n

She has seen the excitement in the eyes of girls picking up rackets and greeting the luminaries of today, who say in news conferences that they are all in on the event\u2019s hosts, and the record prize money for women\u2019s sports that they furnish. Attendance has been up 24 percent over the first year.<\/p>\n

The event won\u2019t always be in Saudi Arabia, and will return to its core markets in Europe and the Americas eventually, but, Archer says, \u201cboth those things can be true.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can want to stay here a little longer than the three years that we\u2019ve committed to, and also be thinking about where we go after we leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Too bad that, as Archer was speaking five months ago, staying a little longer had largely ceased to be an option.<\/p>\n

By then, the WTA Tour Finals had outlived its usefulness to Saudi Arabia\u2019s wider tennis ambitions<\/a>, two people briefed on its sports ministry\u2019s operations, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said. While there were still some talks to be had with the WTA, which would not close the door on any possibility of extension before those talks, they were not likely to go anywhere.<\/p>\n

At the moment, the WTA Tour\u2019s deal with Saudi Arabia appears to be ending at the conclusion of its planned term, though the ultimate outcome has yet to be finalized. The world\u2019s leader in women\u2019s sports got the market and the money that it wanted for its most important tournament, as well as some years of stability for a tournament that had been forced into itinerancy.<\/p>\n

But Saudi Arabia got what it wanted out of the world\u2019s best women\u2019s tennis players, too, and the new market for the WTA Finals came at the price of exposure. The stars of the WTA often played in front of a half-empty arena with a capacity of just 3,500, in front of cameras beaming to potential sponsors and future hosts around the world.<\/p>\n

The event had granted Riyadh and the kingdom legitimacy, despite its never having hosted a tour event. It proved one tennis tour\u2019s willingness to accept its widely criticized human-rights record<\/a> as a price of doing business. The men\u2019s tour is next to stage a top-tier event in the kingdom<\/a>, which will start as early as 2028.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an incredible opportunity to bring the WTA Finals, a world-class, premium global event showcasing the best in women\u2019s tennis, to a new home,\u201d a spokesperson for the WTA said in a statement last week, following an initial report in Bounces<\/a> that it would be leaving Riyadh after this fall\u2019s edition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a historic moment in women\u2019s sports, and we are having conversations around the globe with potential partners,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo decisions have been made yet about a location for the 2027 Finals, but as with all decisions regarding the future of the WTA, we are working closely with players and focused on continuing to build a strong future for women\u2019s tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia had appeared ready to play a major role in that future, until it did not.<\/p>\n

In 2024, its sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) signed a deal with the WTA to put its name on the women\u2019s rankings. PIF has a similar deal with the men\u2019s tour, the ATP. The fund also sponsors a maternity and fertility program for women\u2019s tennis<\/a>, launched last year.<\/p>\n

But just weeks before Archer arrived for last year\u2019s WTA Tour Finals, PIF and its sports investment company, SURJ, had finalized a deal to host a new ATP Masters 1000 event, the highest-level tournament outside the Grand Slams.<\/p>\n

The event is planned for February, starting in just under two years\u2019 time. Its scope,\u00a0and the money involved in securing it, was short of what Saudi officials had wanted to put on and what the ATP wanted to receive. The original proposal was a 96-player, combined men\u2019s and women\u2019s event as part of a possible $1 billion investment into tennis, but the WTA could not accommodate another 1,000-level tournament without sacrificing an existing one.<\/p>\n

So SURJ and the ATP Tour alighted on a 56-player, one-week event, still a significant coup. It will leapfrog the 500-level events held in Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, whose license-holders\u2019 refusal to budge means the new tournament\u2019s exact place in the calendar remains fraught.<\/p>\n

Hosting the WTA Tour Finals cost Saudi Arabia roughly $25 million a year, including the license fee, prize money and expenses. Recouping that investment with a small, half-full stadium was never likely, and while returns on investments are not a necessary concern for the kingdom, it has become less lavish with its spending on sports in recent years.<\/p>\n

The government could save money that had been going to the WTA Tour Finals from its Ministry of Sports, and still strengthen its foothold in the sport, by shifting its focus toward the new men\u2019s tournament through PIF\u2019s sports investment division, SURJ. The new event requires construction of a new tennis complex in a to-be-determined city.<\/p>\n

Also, Saudi Arabia had not partnered with the WTA solely for financial reasons. Bringing a top-tier women\u2019s sports event to the country and having its citizens watch women compete represented an opportunity to varnish its human-rights record, which has been criticized by several organizations regarding its treatment of women.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy experience has been very good here the past few years,\u201d Jessica Pegula said in a news conference during last year\u2019s event.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot a lot of complaints.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gauff, who said during the first edition that she would consider not returning without seeing political progress,\u00a0spoke of inspiring a new generation of Saudi girls during the second.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think this region has had a lot of female representation when it comes to sports and athletes actually playing here,\u201d Gauff said last November. \u201cSo, to have us here be the first to do that, I\u2019m really looking forward to maybe one day there\u2019s a Saudi girl playing on tour when, well, I hope I\u2019m still there.\u201d<\/p>\n

After two years of playing in Saudi Arabia and praising its facilities and approach, the WTA and its stars had done what its backers required. Saudi Arabia did not need them anymore.<\/p>\n

Last November in Riyadh, that message hung in the air, without being said outright. The city was largely devoid of banners or other signs that the world\u2019s top female tennis players were in town.<\/p>\n

Their matches took place in an arena on a university campus, rather than in a bustling neighborhood with foot traffic. Outside the arena, there were some food stands and activities on a small plaza, but nothing like the sort of street festivals that accompany major sports events. Until the final matches, the arena was often half-full, but the appetite for and attention on those matches was buzzing and appreciated by the players.<\/p>\n

\"Aryna<\/p>\n

\n Elena Rybakina won the 2025 WTA Tour Finals, beating Aryna Sabalenka (pictured) in the final. (STR \/ NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

And while players spoke highly of the hosts during their appearances at the WTA Tour Finals, during more recent tournaments, they have spelled out their hopes for the future of their flagship event more clearly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it still needs to grow into an event that showcases the pinnacle of our sport,\u201d Pegula said in a news conference at the Charleston Open in late March.<\/p>\n

For casual tennis fans, the WTA Tour Finals might feel like an afterthought at the end of a long season, especially given the smaller crowds it draws in comparison to tennis\u2019s other showcase events. But qualifying for the tournament, in which only the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams of the season compete, is a massive achievement. Players relish the opportunity to test their games against the best of the best.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the thing that we all dream of playing,\u201d Madison Keys said in a news conference last month. She played two matches in Riyadh last year before withdrawing due to a viral illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the event of the entire year that everyone [on tour] is talking about. I just hope it ends up in a place where tennis fans get to see it and appreciate it, and it gets to be the event it deserves to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of that lack of buzz is an issue of marketing, said Pegula, who has qualified for the Finals in each of the past four years, meaning she\u2019s seen the nomadic event in a few different iterations. There was the flat atmosphere of Fort Worth, Texas in 2022 and a disaster in Cancun, Mexico in 2023 which saw the players rebel against courts they said were dangerous in a hastily constructed temporary stadium.<\/p>\n

At the time, a WTA spokesperson said that the tour had worked \u201con an expedited timeline amid weather challenges to ensure the stadium and court meet our strict performance standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was that haste and instability, driven first by the Covid-19 pandemic, and then by the abrupt end of a long-term deal with China\u2019s sports authorities after the country refused, in the tour\u2019s view, to substantially investigate the disappearance of tennis player Peng Shuai, which in part led the WTA to alight on the financial security that Saudi Arabia could provide.<\/p>\n

It has not provided the engagement that the players want out of the event. Staging the Finals in a place with a built-in tennis fandom makes a big difference in overall atmosphere. The 2021 edition in Guadalajara, Mexico also came together hastily, with the WTA Tour announcing that the event would be moved from Shenzen two months before it started.<\/p>\n

But the WTA had some history in Guadalajara thanks to a 125-level tournament that debuted there in 2019, and the lack of lead time for the Finals didn\u2019t keep a boisterous crowd from showing up. Players enjoyed loud, engaged fans and an event that felt as much like a celebration as it did a competitive tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cMexico was great in that sense. The people are so passionate,\u201d Paula Badosa, who reached the semifinals in Guadalajara, said during a Charleston Open news conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe atmosphere was amazing, one of the best ones I remember.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yeah, I expect the same. It\u2019s the WTA Finals, the best players in the world. For me, it has to be a crazy event, and hopefully they can do that, I don\u2019t know, in the best place possible, if it has to be in Riyadh, Riyadh. If it has to be in U.S., U.S., or if it has to be in Mexico also, I\u2019m happy. \u2026 It\u2019s very important that it has a big, big crowd, because it\u2019s what the players deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n The 2021 WTA Tour Finals in Guadalajara, Mexico drew large crowds because of a modest, but existing, tennis relationship through a much smaller tournament. (Hector Vivas \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we have all the Slams and stuff like that which are amazing, but I do feel like the ATP Finals seems a little bigger,\u201d Pegula said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it is really tough, you\u2019re playing against the best players of that year and to win that is a really big deal. But I think, marketing-wise, it gets a little lost still. I know it\u2019s a long year, it\u2019s hard to keep up, and sometimes at the end of the year, maybe people check out a little as fans. But I think it\u2019s really important that we continue to grow that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big crowds are at the top of the WTA Tour\u2019s priority list as well \u2014 for its players\u2019 and its sponsorship partners\u2019 sake. As the tour searches for a new home, a host city that can deliver strong attendance, fan engagement and media exposure is of paramount importance. Riyadh is eight hours ahead of the East Coast of the United States, meaning matches often took place in the middle of the night for one of the WTA\u2019s most important markets from a sponsorship standpoint.<\/p>\n

One WTA official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships in tennis, said cities in the Americas are in contention, while national media in Poland and Czech Republic have reported that Gdansk and Ostrava or Prague, respectively, are interested.<\/p>\n

A separate person briefed on the WTA\u2019s plans to relocate the event, speaking anonymously for the same reason, said no decision is likely until this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last November. A concrete bunker under an arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, serving as the office of women\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[5343,417,101,3564,118,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-532969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-culture","9":"tag-global-sports","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-sports-business","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}