By Erik Gudris | @ATNTennis | Thursday, September 7, 2023
After weeks of speculation, the WTA Tour announced Cancun, Mexico as the host for the 2023 WTA Finals on October 29th to November 5th.
The tour-ending event will feature the top eight women’s singles and doubles teams as determined by overall points earned during the season.
“I would like to extend my appreciation to the Cancun tournament organizers GS Sports Management for their commitment in hosting the WTA Finals this year,” said Steve Simon, WTA Chairman and CEO. in a statement. “This edition of the WTA Finals will provide a fantastic experience for players and fans alike, offer a fitting finale for the 2023 Hologic WTA Tour and enable us to continue building a strong future for women’s tennis.”
The announcement ends weeks of speculation on where the tour-ending event would take place with multiple locations in the running including the Czech Republic, Washington, D.C., and Saudi Arabia.
The prospect of a Saudi-run event resulted in a public debate between current and former players, some favoring it, and some very against it. That was despite rumors Saudi organizers will willing to triple the overall prize money being offered to over $14 million dollars.
Those against it included John McEnroe, Chris Evert, and Martina Navratilova who criticized the nation’s human rights record.
The ATP Tour’s Next Gen event is scheduled to take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia starting this year.
Shenzhen, China was originally announced as the host city for the event as part of a 10-year agreement starting in 2018. While Shenzhen did host the tournament in 2019, the global pandemic in 2020 canceled the event for that year, and it has not been back to China since.
The tournament was held in Guadalajara in 2021 and then last year in Fort Worth, Texas, with Caroline Garcia of France emerging as the event’s winner.
More details about the event will be revealed at a press conference in Cancun in a few weeks.
Photo credit: Getty