The dominant story this week is that the WTA Finals has found a home for the next three years. Unfortunately, it is a controversial decision by an organization that historically advocates for women’s rights and equal opportunity.
Riyadh selected as the host of WTA Finals from 2024-2026: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia will host the next three editions of the WTA Finals from 2024-2026. The 2024 season-ending Finals will take place between November 2-9, featuring the Top 8 singles players and doubles teams in the Race to the WTA Finals. Full Story: WTA
Saudi Arabia completes deal to host WTA Finals: The background, the backlash, and the money: The women’s professional tennis tour will hold its season-ending WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia for the next three years, marking the latest step in the country’s huge investment in the elite level of the sport. Full Story: The Athletic
Saudi Arabia Hasn’t Earned Women’s Tennis Championships: Women’s tennis and the WTA have a history of advocacy for women’s rights and equal opportunities in sport and education. Despite this legacy, the WTA announced this week that the women’s flagship finals have been awarded to Saudi Arabia for the next three years. Full Story: Forbes
The USTA’s Ambitious Growth Strategy: The USTA recently unveiled a new growth strategy aimed at making the United States the number one tennis-playing nation in the world by 2035—continuing the sport’s strong uptake and better retaining existing players by supporting local communities and providing options for tennis formats, equipment and programs that enable players coming to the game to become players for life. Full Story: USTA
Olympic Tennis Qualification Explained for Paris 2024: Every tennis player competing at the Olympic Games must satisfy a few key criteria to be deemed eligible to play. The Selection criteria is complex. Full Story: ITF
ATP to test 15-second serve clock for doubles matches: The men’s ATP tour will try to shake up doubles tennis by trialing changes, including a 15-second serve clock and reserving slots for teams to enter tournaments using their singles rankings. The new format will be tested at the Madrid Open later this month and at select events throughout the season. Full Story: ESPN
Italian tennis official suspended 5½ years for corruption breaches: Manuel Guion, a national-level official who has also served as a line judge at ATP challenger level, admitted to five breaches of the tennis anti-corruption program, including conspiring to commit a corruption offense, soliciting a player to commit a corruption offense, encouraging tennis betting, and betting on events when officiating at them. Full Story: ESPN
United States Olympic Team To Date: Only Coco Gauff has clinched a spot on the United States Olympic team. Full Story: MSNBC
Egregious Officiating Mistake at Estoril: A controversial bad call mars match between Cristian Garin and Nuno Borges. Full Story: Tennis Editorial Note: I will eventually write a full post on this as there was a rules-based way for Borges to better communicate with the supervisor for a potentially different outcome.
Cuteness Alert: Azarenka and 7-year-old Leo at the Tennis Channel Desk.
This Week in Professional Tennis
| Date | Tournament | Tour/Level | Location |
| 4/7-14 | Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters | ATP 1000 | Monte-Carlo |
| 4/12-13 | Billie Jean King Fed Cup Qualifiers | ITF | Various |
