WTA Finals Leaves Riyadh: Returns to Indian Wells in 2026

The WTA has secured the relocation of the Finals away from the Saudi capital, ending its three-year agreement with the Saudi Tennis Federation a year early. The 2026 edition of the season-ending tournament will be played from November 8 to 15 at Indian Wells, California, on Stadium 1 of the BNP Paribas Open, the second-largest outdoor tennis stadium in the world with more than 16,000 seats.

Riyadh had hosted the Finals in 2024, when Coco Gauff beat Zheng Qinwen in three sets, and in 2025, with Elena Rybakina defeating Aryna Sabalenka. The contract's third year will not be played out: in a joint statement, the WTA and the Saudi federation explained that it was the WTA itself that requested the tournament's relocation after "two years of impact" in Riyadh, a request the Saudi side accepted. The decision comes after public criticism from Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, who had repeatedly challenged the choice to hold the event in a country with a human rights record under international scrutiny.

While the women's tour takes a step back, the men's tour takes a step forward on the same ground. Starting in October 2025, the ATP has a new Masters 1000 on its calendar — the tenth in the circuit's history — which will debut no earlier than 2028 at the new National Tennis Centre in Qiddiya: a 30-court facility with a covered center court seating 15,000. The tournament, non-mandatory, will be played on hard courts with a 56-player draw. "A moment we're proud of, the result of a journey built over years," said ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi announcing the event.

The contrast is stark: two tours, two opposite paths on the same ground. The women's tour's caution after two editions not without controversy stands alongside the ambition of an ATP betting on a tournament built from scratch, inside a facility aiming to become one of the largest in the world.