This year’s WTA Finals will be the last held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
From 2027, the WTA Finals are likely to be held in Charlotte, USA, or Gdansk, Poland.
During the latest episode of ‘Love All‘, former three-time WTA Finals champion Kim Clijsters picked the venue she’d prefer to host the year-end championships.
Kim Clijsters would like the WTA Finals to be held in Charlotte, USA
Clijsters recently visited Charlotte, alongside several key decision-makers.
“It was my first time in Charlotte. It was a very impressive room of people who are very passionate about sports and about bringing tennis to the Charlotte area,” said Clijsters.
“I really enjoyed getting to meet a lot of the people who are interested. I know the Charlotte Sports Foundation is very much behind it.
“So we will see where it heads to. Just to be able to know about the area, looking at venues…
“But then at the same time, there are still some other cities in the running as well. I think there is another American city, another European city, I don’t know what those are, they didn’t share that with me, but it is exciting.”
Clijsters thinks now is the perfect time to bring the tour finals back to the United States.
“I think it would be incredible to bring tennis, especially seeing where American tennis is at the moment,” she said.
“I think we have three Americans in the top 10. Just to see the WTA Finals brought back to American soil, it is something I would be super excited about.
Official WTA rankings
| Rank | Name | Country | Points |
| 1 | Aryna Sabalenka | Belarus | 11,025 |
| 2 | Elena Rybakina | Kazakhstan | 8,108 |
| 3 | Coco Gauff | USA | 7,278 |
| 4 | Iga Swiatek | Poland | 7,263 |
| 5 | Jessica Pegula | USA | 6,243 |
| 6 | Amanda Anisimova | USA | 6,180 |
| 7 | Elina Svitolina | Ukraine | 3,965 |
| 8 | Jasmine Paolini | Italy | 3,907 |
| 9 | Victoria Mboko | Canada | 3,531 |
| 10 | Mirra Andreeva | Russia | 3,121 |
“I think a lot of the players would really enjoy having it there…
“It has nothing to do with things not going well in Riyadh or anything, I think it was just the end of the contract there, and it was time for a change.”
Clijsters has a soft spot for the WTA Finals, an event her late father considered to be the World Cup of women’s tennis.
“To me, the WTA Finals are so special,” she said.
“I grew up with a dad who played World Cup soccer for Belgium. He called the WTA Finals the World Cup, the best players, the eight best players…
“2002 was the first time I won it, but I think I also played Madison Square Garden one time.
“To be able to play in those types of venues, the [New York] Knicks were playing, the [Los Angeles] Lakers were playing, literally, the day before we started playing, the Lakers had a game the night before, and we were able to watch the games.
“It was a really cool experience to see that in the early 2000s, as women, tennis was such a frontrunner when it comes to bringing women’s sports to these incredible venues where a lot of the guys and most famous sports in the world were holding some of their biggest events.”
Kim Clijsters’ record at the WTA Finals
| WTA Finals | Location | Venue | Performance |
| 2000 | New York City, USA | Madison Square Garden | Lost in QF to Elena Dementieva |
| 2001 | Munich, Germany | Olympiahalle | Lost in SF to Lindsay Davenport |
| 2002 | Los Angeles, USA | Staples Center | Champion |
| 2003 | Los Angeles, USA | Staples Center | Champion |
| 2005 | Los Angeles, USA | Staples Center | Knocked out in RR (1-2) |
| 2006 | Madrid, Spain | Madrid Arena | Lost in SF to Amelie Mauresmo |
| 2010 | Doha, Qatar | Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex | Champion |
Clijsters won WTA Finals titles in Los Angeles and Doha, retiring as a three-time champion at the event.
To this day, Clijsters remains one of the most successful women in WTA Finals history.
Multiple WTA Finals champions
- 1. Martina Navratilova – 8 titles
- T-2. Steffi Graf – 5 titles
- T-2. Serena Williams – 5 titles
- 4. Chris Evert – 4 titles
- T-5. Monica Seles – 3 titles
- T-5. Kim Clijsters – 3 titles
- T-7. Evonne Goolagong Cawley – 2 titles
- T-7. Gabriela Sabatini – 2 titles
- T-7. Martina Hingis – 2 titles
- T-7. Justine Henin – 2 titles
When will we know the new WTA Finals host?
As reported by ‘Prezglad Sportowy‘, the new host will be decided at the end of April, and will be communicated ‘no later’ than the end of the 2026 French Open.
Only time will tell if Charlotte will get the nod over Gdansk, but it will certainly be something to keep an eye on!
