The decision to relocate the season-ending WTA Finals to the Chinese city of Shenzhen over the next 10 years could be counterproductive, according to 2013 Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli.
Bartoli, who peaked at a ranking best of seventh in the world during her career, has said the move of the tournament is centred around money and not exposing women’s tennis to a wider audience. Shenzhen will host the end-of-year extravaganza with a record prize money pool of $14 million. An undefeated singles champion will earn $4.75 million, which is $900,000 more than what this year’s US Open champion will receive.
“I am not sure about putting the championship for 10 years in China.” Bartoli recently said on Eurosport. “I think the time difference, when it is live, is the wrong time in the US and the wrong time in Europe.’
“I am not sure there is a lot of attraction for women’s tennis in China. Yes, when Li Na was playing. Unless Roger or Rafa was playing then they weren’t really filling the stadiums.”
Elaborating further, the Frenchwoman claimed that The ATP has a better understanding of how to promote tennis. The men’s equivalent, the ATP Finals, has been hosted in London at The O2 Arena for more than a decade. However, from 2021 the tournament will relocate to Italy. Although the Chinese City of Shanghai previously hosted the event in 2002 and then again between 2005-2008.
“I think the men’s game has a better understanding that it’s not about the money on the table, but about the exposure of the game. When you have the end-of-season championships in London and then Torino you are going to places were fans have an awareness of tennis.” Bartoli explained.
“We have two Grand Slams in Europe – how many are there in China? I think the WTA need a long-term vision of where they want to be which is to recognise the top players of the game.”
There are currently four Chinese women in the top 50 in the WTA rankings. It is hard to place an exact figure on how popular the sport is in the Asian country. In a recent article published by the South China Post, a member of the Shanghai Tennis Association said 70,000 people play regularly in the city and there are an additional 980,000 people who are either occasional players or are interested in the sport.
Besides the location, Bartoli believes that women’s tennis are having problems selling out tennis events because the tour lacks rivalries similar to those of the past.
“When Serena isn’t playing, how many times are you going to fill a stadium for women’s tennis? That should be the bigger question – how can they promote the players in a way that will fill stadiums? “ She said.
“It comes to identification – people used to root for Steffi or they used to root for Martina, and now we are struggling to have that rivalry. For me, it’s not about the money, it’s about how they promote the game to get people to watch women’s tennis.”
The Shenzhen WTA Finals will get underway on October 27th. Only the eight highest ranked player will be eligible to participate in accordance to the WTA Race to Shenzhen.
Locations of the WTA Finals
| Years | City | Surface | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972–1973 | Boca Raton, USA | Clay | ||
| 1974–1976 | Los Angeles, USA | Carpet | ||
| 1977 | New York City, USA | Carpet | ||
| 1978 | Oakland, USA | Carpet | ||
| 1979–2000 | New York City, USA | Carpet | ||
| 2001 | Munich, Germany | Hard (i) | ||
| 2002–2005 | Los Angeles, USA | Hard (i) | ||
| 2006–2007 | Madrid, Spain | Hard (i) | ||
| 2008–2010 | Doha, UAE | Hard | ||
| 2011–2013 | Istanbul, Turkey | Hard (i) | ||
| 2014–2018 | Singapore | Hard (i) | ||
| 2019–2028 | Shenzhen, China | Hard (i) |
