The WTA is running out of time to name a host city for the 2023 WTA Finals, which is scheduled to take place in late October.
With just 11 weeks of the regular season remaining, the women's governing body risks treading a similar route from the past and repeating its mistakes. They have not announced a host city for the most prestigious tennis tournament on the women's calendar outside the four Grand Slams nor have they communicated the dates for the event.
It was expected that the 2023 WTA Finals would return to Shenzhen, China after the WTA ended its boycott of tournaments there following concerns about the safety and well-being of Chinese player Peng Shuai. Back in 2018, the WTA signed a lucrative 10-year deal to stage the season-ending finale in Shenzhen, beginning the following season.
After a successful first edition on Chinese soil in 2019, the tournament was officially canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic without any plans to move it to a different country. China's strict zero-Covid policy also meant all other tournaments in the 500 and 250 categories were temporarily suspended during the Asian swing.
In 2021, the WTA moved the tournament to Guadalajara, Mexico, making the announcement just seven weeks before the tournament. The event was marked with widespread success, earning the Mexican city the chance to host a WTA 1000 the following season.
That left a huge hole for the WTA Finals in the 2022 calendar as it coincided with the boycott of tennis tournaments in China, meaning that a new host city needed to be determined at least to operate on a one-year agreement. After months of indecisiveness, Fort Worth, Texas was given the keys to host the WTA Finals last year.
The announcement was done just eight weeks before the tournament, with WTA CEO Steve Simon calling it 'a last-minute decision' and this was evident in poor attendance numbers throughout the tournament. And now with just two months before the 2023 Finals, it looks like the WTA has not learned from its past travails.
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