WTA Tour set to return to China in 2023 following suspension over Peng Shuai situation
Tennis fans at home will soon get another chance to see world number one Roger Federer live in China when the clay-court season gets underway this September.
The WTA Tour has announced that Federer will play the clay-court season at the Guangzhou International Tennis Championships in September, 2023.
Federer currently leads the men’s tour in ranking points with 1,845. However, his ranking has dropped to 545 as of the start of the new season at the All India Premier Tennis League (AIPTL). Federer has played just 10 clay-court tournaments in the past two years.
China is also the current location of the Grand Slam tennis series.
Federer has a 5-0 record at the Guangzhou International in his career as he has won all the titles on clay and grass courts with the exception of the loss to Novak Djokovic in the US Open final, when he also won the title on hard courts.
As a WTA Tour member, Federer earns more than $8m (over $6m in 2019) per year by participating in the flagship Grand Slam event as well as other tennis tournaments, including the Premier 5 events.
Federer is scheduled to compete in the AIPTL at the start of the current season. In October, he will also play in the inaugural Premier 5 event in Shanghai.
Federer has three titles in Guangzhou already on his resume. He defeated Marcos Baghdatis, who won the WTA tour title in 2020, in 2014, then beat Dominika Cibulkova in 2015 on his way to the WTA tournament title.
The 2019 Guangzhou ATP Masters 1000 saw Federer upset No.1 Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals.
Federer has also won the title on hard courts two more times: in 2016, when he beat Marin Čilić in the quarter-finals; and in 2018, by