China still in the cold as WTA updates calendar for autumn 2022

The WTA says it hopes to announce a venue for the WTA Finals – formerly held in Shenzhen – in the near future

AI / Reuters / Panoramic

May 17, 2022

The WTA is still looking for a venue for its season-ending WTA Finals as it confirmed that China will not host an event in 2022.

The WTA posted its updated calendar on Monday, including a WTA1000 in Guadalajara and WTA 500s in Tokyo, Ostrava and San Diego.

But having taken tennis out of China in the wake of the Peng Shuai scandal – with the Chinese player’s safety and whereabouts still uncertain – the finals will again not be held in Shenzhen, which signed a 10-year deal to stage the season-ending event from 2019 onwards.

With China off the schedule again, WTA releases its revised fall calendar schedule

Good to see San Diego with a WTA 500. City has a long association with top-flight WTA #tennis and hosted a successful single-year-sanction ATP 250 last year in a similar time slot. pic.twitter.com/Mamq4c9qpX
— Christopher Clarey 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 (@christophclarey) May 16, 2022

Just as last year, the finals will be held elsewhere and the WTA said they hoped to issue an update on that soon.

“The 2022 WTA fall calendar will provide a robust amount of job opportunities for players in a regional calendar flow that will take us through to the end of the season,” Steve Simon, the WTA Chairman and CEO, said in a statement. I am extremely grateful to all of our tournament organizers for their support of women’s tennis and their commitment to staging world class Hologic WTA Tour events”.

Guadalajara, which stood in for Shenzhen in 2021, will stage a WTA 1000 event in the week of October 17, two weeks before the WTA Finals.