The Queen’s Club Championships have gone down a storm in London this year.
Queen’s has been a consistent fixture on the ATP Tour for many years, but it was not until last year that the WTA Tour returned to the club for the first time since 1973.
This has been rewarded with great success, featuring players including Elena Rybakina, Amanda Anisimova, Emma Raducanu and Serena Williams, who made her WTA return at Queen’s.
The crowds were packed throughout the week, including for the final where Donna Vekic beat Raducanu, and it is clear that London should be awarded with another prestigious WTA tournament.
London should now be given the opportunity to host the WTA Finals
London now has two huge tournaments in both the Queen’s Club Championships and of course Wimbledon, and it will also host the Laver Cup again later this year.
However, one event that London has never hosted is the WTA Finals, the year-end tournament that features both the top eight singles players and doubles teams from the season.
The WTA Finals has been hosted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia since 2023, but the tournament will leave the Middle East after this year’s event.
Crowd attendance has been a big debate at the WTA Finals since it moved to Riyadh three years ago, with matches often having sparse attendances.
The WTA Finals are arguably the fifth biggest tournament on the WTA calendar, only behind the Grand Slam tournaments, and deserve a lot more than this for its showcase event.
Both Gdansk, Poland and Charlotte, USA have been rumoured as new hosts for the WTA Finals from 2027, but Queen’s has shown that London is a perfect new home for women’s tennis and should be considered as another option.
How far do you think Emma Raducanu will go at Wimbledon after watching her at Queen’s?
There is a perfect venue to host the WTA Finals in London
Although Queen’s has attracted the crowds for the WTA 500 tournament over the past week, it would not be a suitable venue in itself to host the WTA Finals.
The WTA Finals is hosted in November on hard courts, and it would be in winter time for London.
Despite this, there is still a perfect location ready for London to host the WTA Finals, and that is at the O2 Arena.
The O2 Arena hosted the ATP Finals between 2009 and 2020, which is longer than any other venue has hosted the ATP equivalent to the WTA Finals.
ATP players were always glowing in their reviews of the venue, which saw packed crowds from start to finish at the tournament.
The O2 Arena also hosted the Laver Cup in 2022 and will do so again in 2026, with a sold-out venue expected later this year.
British crowds have already shown that there is a real desire for women’s tennis in London and The O2 Arena should now put their name in the hat for the WTA Finals from 2027.
