The WTA is “looking for a new host for its signature year-end championships event, the WTA Finals,” departing the Saudi Arabian market that it entered to considerable debate two years ago, in accordance to sources cited by BOUNCES. The WTA’s plan to depart the desert comes regardless of WTA CEO Portia Archer “indicating interest last year in extending the WTA’s controversial stay in Riyadh beyond the original three-year deal that ends this year.” Those talks between the WTA and the Saudi Tennis Federation didn’t in the end lead to a renewal for Riyadh, so this 12 months would be the ultimate version in Riyadh. The “leading candidate” metropolis in North America to host the WTA Finals in 2027 and past “appears to be” Charlotte — a metropolis that has not hosted any official tour occasions because the Nineteen Seventies. But tennis followers would have heard town “mentioned more frequently in recent years.” When new event proprietor Ben Navarro threatened to move the Cincinnati Open out of Ohio in 2023, Charlotte was his “intended destination.” Also, the Charlotte Sports Foundation has organized an exhibition event called the Charlotte Invitational every of the last two offseasons (BOUNCES, 3/30).
