Saudi To Host Three Next Editions Of Women’s Tennis

By: Gyang Dakwo

Saudi Arabia will host the next three editions of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals, the season-ending showpiece event of the women’s tennis tour.

The women’s professional tennis tour on Thursday announced a deal that will see prize money for this November’s tournament raised to $15.25m (£12m), a 70-per-cent increase from 2023.

The nation’s capital Riyadh will host the event for the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams from November 2-9, along with the 2025 and 2026 tournaments.

The deal is the latest in a recent wave of investment by Saudi Arabia in tennis, with WTA chairman and CEO Steve Simon declaring it an “exciting new opportunity” and a “positive step for the long-term growth of women’s tennis as a global and inclusive sport.”

Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur last month backed the move, telling reporters at Indian Wells: “I think I’m the first player who would be supportive of going to Saudi.

22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal recently became an ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation; he will join 24-time major champ Novak Djokovic and rising stars Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at an exhibition event in Riyadh in October.

Locations in Europe, North America and Asia also were considered as possible new sites for the WTA Finals, which have moved around to five cities over the past five editions after a deal to put the tournament in Shenzhen, China, through until 2030 was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and concerns over the safety of retired Grand Slam doubles champion Peng Shuai, who accused a Chinese government official of rape.

The WTA said the Finals prize money will help work to meet the tour’s pledge – made last year – to increase pay and put it in line with what men earn in tennis.

The $15.25 million on offer from November 2-9, 2024 – an amount set to increase in 2025 and 2026 – is up from last year’s $9 million and eclipses the event-high $14 million at Shenzhen in 2019.