WTA Tour

What is the WTA Tour?

The WTA Tour — the Hologic WTA Tour, after its title sponsor — is the top-level worldwide circuit of women’s professional tennis, run by the Women’s Tennis Association, which represents about 1,600 professional athletes. Its 2026 calendar has ten WTA 1000 tournaments, seven of them in a 12-day format, 17 WTA 500s and 22 WTA 250s across 26 countries and territories, plus the United Cup and the WTA Finals in Riyadh; below them sits the WTA 125 tier, and below that the ITF World Tennis Tour, both feeding the same ranking. The Grand Slams are separate events that carry WTA points.^[1] [2]

How does it work?

Entry to every tournament runs on the PIF WTA Rankings: main draws fill by direct acceptance at the entry deadline, then qualifying, a limited number of wild cards per level and special rankings for players returning from absence. A ranking is a player’s best 18 singles results over the previous 52 weeks with the WTA Finals as a 19th, or best 12 in doubles; a Grand Slam title is worth 2,000 points, a WTA 1000 title 1,000, a WTA 500 title 500, a WTA 250 title 250 and a WTA 125 title 125, with the Finals worth up to 1,500. To hold a ranking a player needs points from at least three tournaments or ten points from one. The Age Eligibility Rule bars under-15s from direct acceptance and caps under-18s’ participation; non-members pay a USD 250 administrative fee per tournament.^[3] [4]

Since when does it exist?

Billie Jean King founded the WTA at a meeting of more than 60 players at London’s Gloucester Hotel in 1973, and computerised rankings followed in November 1975. The tournament tiers were renamed WTA 1000, 500 and 250 in 2020, replacing the Premier Mandatory and Premier 5 categories, and the 2026 WTA Finals in Riyadh are the third edition there. Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Ashleigh Barty, Iga Świątek and Aryna Sabalenka have been the year-end No. 1s of the last ten seasons.^{[1] [2] [3] [6] [7] [8]}

Year-end world No. 1 of the last ten seasons (singles).

Why does it matter?

The WTA Tour is the only top-level circuit in women’s tennis, and its ranking is the sport’s universal entry system, including for the Grand Slams — the international ranking that immigration rules refer to when a sport has one. The Tour reported more than four million spectators in 2025, and the 2025 WTA Finals paid its champion USD 5.235m, which the WTA called the largest single payout in women’s sport.^[3] [5]