---
title: "WTA Finals Leave Saudi Arabia: The Year-End Championship Returns to the USA"
description: "The WTA has officially moved the 2026 Year-End Championship from Saudi Arabia to Indian Wells (USA). The partnership with Riyadh has been terminated early. In the new season, Ukrainian tennis players Elina Svitolina and Marta Kostyuk have high chances to break into the top 8 and play in the prestigious tournament 🇺🇦🎾"
date: 2026-07-02T12:58:00.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/wta-finals-leave-saudi-arabia-and-return-to-usa
tags: []
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# WTA Finals Leave Saudi Arabia: The Year-End Championship Returns to the USA

![Tennis player tossing ball for serve against blue banner reading Dubai — symbol of WTA Finals era in Saudi Arabia, soon to end](https://xab.info/media/2026/07/02/wta-finals-pereezzhayut-iz-saudovskoy-aravii-v-ssha/wta-finals-pereezzhayut-iz-saudovskoy-aravii-v-ssha-1.webp)

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) has officially announced a major change to the world tennis calendar. The season-ending tournament, which was scheduled to conclude the contractual period in Saudi Arabia, is moving to the USA. The organizers and the Saudi Tennis Federation have reached an agreement to terminate their cooperation ahead of schedule.

### The End of the Riyadh Era

Saudi Arabia signed a three-year contract to host the WTA Finals in 2024. However, the implementation of this agreement was accompanied by harsh criticism from players and human rights organizations, pointing out issues with human rights in the kingdom. Although 2026 was supposed to be the final stage of this partnership, both parties decided to end it early.

The official statement notes that both sides are "proud of the partnership's impact," but the decision to relocate was made by mutual agreement. Thus, the era of hosting the most prestigious competition in Riyadh is coming to an end.

### New Home — Indian Wells

From November 8 to 15, 2026, the main event of the women's tour will be the tennis complex in Indian Wells (California, USA). This venue is well known to professionals: every year it hosts the joint WTA and ATP Masters series tournament — the BNP Paribas Open.

The infrastructure of Indian Wells is ready to welcome the elite of world tennis. The complex's main arena, Stadium 1, holds more than 16,000 spectators and is the second-largest open-air tennis stadium in the world. The popularity of the location is confirmed by the numbers: in 2026, the spring tournament there set an absolute attendance record, gathering more than half a million fans.

### Chances for Ukrainian Tennis Players

The Year-End Championship is a closed club for the eight best singles players and the eight strongest doubles teams at the end of the season. In the current season, two Ukrainian athletes have a real chance to break into this elite: Elina Svitolina and Marta Kostyuk.

The situation in the rankings looks as follows:

- Elina Svitolina holds a solid fourth place in the WTA LIVE rankings.

- Marta Kostyuk rounds out the qualifying zone, sitting in eighth place.

For Svitolina, the WTA Finals is a tournament with a history. The Ukrainian has already won it in 2018 and reached the final in 2019. In total, she has participated in three year-end tournaments, successfully passing the group stage twice.

For Marta Kostyuk, this could be a historic breakthrough. The 24-year-old tennis player has never before made it into the top 8 players of the season. However, this year she is demonstrating stable results and has a unique chance to play in the year-end tournament for the first time in her career alongside elite opponents.

### The Future of the Tournament

In recent years, the women's tour Year-End Championship has regularly faced organizational difficulties and scandals, making every change in its location a significant event. At the moment, the WTA's plans for the location of the competition for 2027 and subsequent seasons remain unknown.