Shenzhen Bay Sports Center
Featured image credit: Charlie fong/CC BY-SA 4.0/Edited for size
The Billie Jean King Cup Finals will head to China for the first time after Shenzhen was awarded hosting rights for the next three editions of the women’s national team tennis competition.
The deal covers the 2025 to 2027 editions of the event, with specific timings for this year’s edition to be announced at a later date. A partnership with the China Tennis Association and a private investor, Beijing Guoti Intelligent Technology, has been set up to deliver the events.
The most recent Billie Jean King Cup Finals took place in the Spanish city of Malaga, with Italy emerging as the winner. Prior to that, the tournament was held in Seville, Glasgow and Prague.
Women’s tennis is growing in popularity in China on the back of Zheng Qinwen winning the gold medal at last year’s Olympic Games in Paris. Zheng said the announcement reflects the “incredible progress” of the sport in China.
Shenzhen has experience of hosting major women’s tennis events after staging the WTA Finals in 2019. That event took place at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center, which comprises a stadium and arena and is said to be one of three venues under consideration to host the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
Shenzhen had been scheduled to host the WTA Finals from 2019 until 2028, but the COVID-19 pandemic saw the event move to Guadalajara in 2021, Fort Worth in 2022 and Cancún in 2023.
The WTA had previously expressed a commitment to return the event to China, but the tour’s relationship with the country became strained in 2021 amid concerns over the safety of Chinese player Peng Shuai.
The WTA suspended all tournaments in China and Hong Kong after Peng was not seen or heard from for two weeks. It came after Peng posted on social media an allegation of sexual assault against a top Chinese government official.
At the time, WTA chief executive Steve Simon said he had “serious doubts that (Peng) is free, safe and not subject to censorship, coercion and intimidation”. The WTA eventually returned to China in 2023, with Simon stating that the tour had received assurances over Peng’s safety.
In April last year, the WTA announced that Riyadh in Saudi Arabia would host the WTA Finals until 2026, ending any prospect of the event returning to China in the near future.
Commenting on the decision to take the Billie Jean King Cup Finals to Shenzhen, David Haggerty, president of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), said: “China has seen a massive surge in tennis popularity, with over 20 million people playing the sport, making it the second-largest tennis-playing nation globally.
“The country’s investment in tennis infrastructure and talent development has led to significant achievements on the international stage, including Olympic triumphs and a growing presence in global rankings.”
Ilana Kloss, chair of Billie Jean King Cup Limited, added: “We are excited to bring the Billie Jean King Cup Finals and national team tennis to Shenzhen, a city with a rapidly growing tennis community and infrastructure.
“This bold move will enhance the visibility of women’s tennis and support our mission to promote gender equality and inspire the next generation of athletes. The rise of tennis in China has been phenomenal, with millions of new players and fans joining the sport. We are confident that this partnership will further elevate the Billie Jean King Cup.”
The draw for the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers will take place today (Thursday), with China and Italy automatically qualifying for the Finals as the host nation and defending champion, respectively.
Host nations for the qualifiers will be Australia, Czechia, Japan, Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia.
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