WTA back on Tennis Channel in 2019

Tennis Channel to cover 19 WTA Premier and 30 International events in 2019:

The 2018 season saw three new Grand Slam champions on the WTA tour: Caroline Wozniacki, Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka. The first WTA Premier 5 tournament after the US Open, in Wuhan, was won by Aryna Sabalenka, who may soon become the next first-time Slam champion.

These four players—two established talents, two rising stars—represent the week-to-week drama that has defined the WTA this year. Combined with eight multiple-time Grand Slam winners, including Wimbledon conqueror Angelique Kerber and runner-up Serena Williams, along with a host of young and experienced champions, the WTA is awash with compelling players and rich in storylines. It is all but impossible to know where the tour and its trophies are going next.

We know one thing for sure: In 2019, those storylines will play out on Tennis Channel.

In an agreement that brings WTA coverage back to the network it called home from its launch in 2003 to 2016, Tennis Channel will once again be a broadcasting global leader in women’s professional sport.

Beginning in January, Tennis Channel will be the television and digital media home of the WTA in the United States, including live, over-the-top streaming rights, available on Tennis Channel Plus.

The partnership includes WTA Premier and WTA International tournaments as well as the WTA Finals, which amounts to more than 2,000 matches across all platforms.

Here are some of the specifics:

• WTA Premier events in Tennis Channel’s on-air or digital lineup in 2019 include those in: Brisbane, Sydney, St. Petersburg, Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston, S.C., Stuttgart, Madrid, Rome, Birmingham, Eastbourne, Montreal/Toronto, Cincinnati, Tokyo, Wuhan, Beijing and Moscow. Through existing agreements, the network already covers events in Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston and Cincinnati.

• There are 30 WTA International tournaments under the agreement. From the start of the season in January to Wimbledon in July, these events are in: Auckland, New Zealand; Shenzhen, China; Hobart, Australia; Taipei, Taiwan; Budapest, Hungary; Acapulco, Mexico; Monterrey, Mexico; Bogota, Colombia; Lugano, Switzerland; Istanbul, Turkey; Rabat, Morocco; Prague, Czech Republic; Strasbourg, France; Nurnberg, Germany; Nottingham, England; s-Hertogenborsch, Netherlands; and Mallorca, Spain.

• The second half of the calendar includes International tournaments in: Bucharest, Romania; Gstaad, Switzerland; Moscow, Russia; Nanchang, China; Hiroshima, Japan; Quebec City, Canada; Guangzhou, China; Seoul, South Korea; Tashkent, Uzbekistan; Hong Kong; Linz, Austria; Tianjin, China; and Luxembourg, Luxembourg.

• During the year-end WTA Finals, to be held in Shenzhen, China, in 2019, the eight singles players and doubles teams that have earned the most points throughout the season will clash in a grand finale of round-robin and knockout matches reminiscent of finals weekend at any major. Tennis Channel expects to show more than 20 matches at the competition, from the first day of play through the finals.

ATP Beijing & Tokyo (Sep. 30-Oct. 7)

• Tennis Channel PLUS has every ATP match live, from the first round to the final. Watch up to three courts from Beijing and two from Tokyo.