WTA Announces 2020 Calendar

WTA RELEASES 2020 TOURNAMENT CALENDAR

· Two WTA Premier tournaments debut in Adelaide and Berlin

· Three new WTA International tournaments debut in Lyon, Bad Homburg and Albany

· Prize money increases at all International level events

ST PETERSBURG, FL, USA – The WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) has released its calendar for the 2020 season, featuring two new venues for Premier tournaments – a hard court event in Adelaide, Australia at the start of the season and a grass court event in Berlin, Germany. Additionally, three new cities will host International events: Lyon, France, Bad Homburg, Germany and Albany, NY, USA.

The 2020 calendar will feature a total of 60 tournaments – 55 WTA events, in addition to four Grand Slams and the Olympics. Among the 55 WTA tournaments, 28 different countries and regions will host events.

Adelaide Helps Kick Off 2020 Season

The 2020 season will kick off the week of January 6 with three tournaments – a Premier event in Brisbane and International events in Auckland and Shenzhen. In the second week, a new hard court Premier event will be staged in Adelaide (relocation from Sydney), along with an International event in Hobart leading into the Australian Open.

Two New Events Added to Grass Court Season

The grass court season will now encompass two tournaments in Germany featuring a Premier event in Berlin (relocation from Birmingham), where the WTA returns after an 11-year absence. In the same week, an International event (relocation from Mallorca) will replace the Premier event in Birmingham. This will be the 39th consecutive year a WTA tournament will be hosted in Birmingham, dating back to 1982.

Additionally, Bad Homburg, Germany will host a new grass court International event (relocation from Istanbul) the week of June 22, while Eastbourne will continue to host a WTA Premier tournament.

New International Tournaments and Prize Money Increase

The 32 WTA International level tournaments will see a 10 percent prize money increase as each tournament will offer at least $275,000. International events will continue to have yearly prize money increases thereafter.

In addition to the new event in Bad Homburg, Lyon (week of March 2) and Albany (week of August 24) will host new International tournaments. Lyon is a relocation from Tashkent and will be an indoor hard court event, while Albany, a relocation from Québec City, will be played on hard court outdoors, taking place the week prior to the US Open.

Other Additions to the 2020 WTA Calendar:

· St. Petersburg, Russia and Hua Hin move to the week of February 10 following Fed Cup, which will be held the week of February 3.

· Doha and Dubai alternate tier status each year and in 2020, Dubai will host the Premier 700 event (week of February 17) followed by the Premier 5 event in Doha (week of February 24). Similarly, the Rogers Cup, which alternates between Montreal and Toronto, will be held in Montreal in 2020.

· Acapulco moves to the week of February 24, alongside Doha.

· Monterrey moves to the week of March 2, alongside Lyon.

· Bogotá moves to the week of April 6, alongside Charleston.

· Lugano moves to the week of April 20, alongside Stuttgart.

· The Olympics will be staged in Tokyo in Week 30, with the Olympic Tennis Event taking place from Saturday, July 25 to Sunday, August 2.

2020 marks the 47th year since the WTA was founded by Billie Jean King in 1973, uniting all of women’s professional tennis under one Tour. Since then, the WTA Tour has grown to more than 1,800 athletes and $179 million in prize money to be played for at events around the globe.

The Top 8 singles players and doubles teams of the 2020 season will earn their position to compete at the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen.

2020 Calendar