Monday’s ITF announcement accompanied the release of its World Tennis Tour (WTT) calendar for the second quarter of 2023. It added that it anticipated the resumption of its activity in China later in the year but did not provide further details.
“We greatly welcome the return of the ITF’s WTT events to mainland China,” said Philip Mok Kwan-yat, president of the Hong Kong Tennis Association. “We also have some confirmed ITT WTT tournaments in Hong Kong this year, which will run from June to September.
“These events are excellent training grounds for our aspiring pros who are starting out.”
In the last full season before the pandemic, in 2019, China hosted 25 ITF women’s and 15 men’s events. The ITF does not have major professional tournaments in China and is more focused on grass-roots development events.
ITF president David Haggerty said on Monday that the global body’s “paramount concern” was the safety of its players and it would closely monitor levels of risk in every tour location.
“We have received reassurance that it’s safe for players, their families and teams to compete in China, so we’re looking forward to bringing the World Tennis Tour back there,” he said.
“Our fundamental purpose is to develop grass-roots tennis in 213 countries with different social, economic and political conditions. We will continue to do that for the good of our sport around the world.”
While the WTA decides its next move regarding mainland China, Mok said Hong Kong tennis officials had been “in close contact” with the tour about staging the women’s Hong Kong Open this year for the first time since 2018, with a decision “delayed by a couple of weeks”. One of the lowest-tier 250 events, it is traditionally held in October.
As for arranging a top-tier men’s event under the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Mok said: “We are under discussion with different parties. Our wish is to bring more mega sport events to Hong Kong, and ATP is part of the plan.
Tennis chiefs to decide fate of Hong Kong Open in next 3 weeks
“We are still exploring different opportunities and we are confident that we will bring something exciting to Hong Kong before year end.”
Mok had said in December about a potential ATP 250 event in Hong Kong: “Nothing is confirmed yet but if successful, it could be in January 2024.”
Meanwhile, the ITF said women’s players would compete for a record level of prize money in the second quarter, with a total of US$5 million on offer across 164 events. It said that was 12 per cent up on the same period last year and was part of its push for gender parity.
The tour will also stage the first ever WTT event in Ethiopia, and the first in Burundi and Cyprus since 2013 and 2016 respectively.
