2026 WTA Tour tentative schedule and defending women’s singles champions
By Lee Seng Foo5 months ago
The 2026 WTA Tour arrives with high expectations and tremendous promise after an exceptionally balanced 2025 season for women’s singles. In one of the most competitive campaigns in recent years, five different players captured the four Grand Slams and the WTA Finals trophy, and no player finished the year with more than four titles, highlighting the remarkable depth at the top of the women’s game.
With upgraded events and a more globally expansive calendar, the 2026 season sets the stage for an even more dramatic and wide-open battle for supremacy. Here’s an overview of the upcoming tournaments.
JANUARY 2026
Date
Level
Tournament
2025 Winner
4 Jan
WTA 500
Brisbane International
Aryna Sabalenka
5 Jan
WTA 250
Auckland Open
Clara Tauson
12 Jan
WTA 500
Adelaide International
Madison Keys
12 Jan
WTA 250
Hobart International
McCartney Kessler
19 Jan
Grand Slam
Australian Open
Madison Keys
FEBRUARY 2026
Date
Level
Tournament
2025 Winner
2 Feb
WTA 500
Abu Dhabi Open
Belinda Bencic
2 Feb
WTA 250
Transylvania Open
Anastasia Potapova
2 Feb
WTA 250
Ostrava Open
–
9 Feb
WTA 1000
Qatar Open
Amanda Anisimova
16 Feb
WTA 1000
Dubai Tennis Championships
Mirra Andreeva
23 Feb
WTA 500
Merida Open
Emma Navarro
23 Feb
WTA 250
ATX Open
Jessica Pegula
MARCH 2026
Date
Level
Tournament
2025 Winner
2 Mar
WTA 1000
Indian Wells Masters
Mirra Andreeva
16 Mar
WTA 1000
Miami Open
Aryna Sabalenka
30 Mar
WTA 500
Charleston Open
Jessica Pegula
30 Mar
WTA 250
Copa Colsanitas
Camila Osorio
APRIL 2026
Date
Level
Tournament
2025 Winner
6 Apr
WTA 500
Linz Open
Ekaterina Alexandrova
13 Apr
WTA 500
Stuttgart Open
Jelena Ostapenko
13 Apr
WTA 250
Open de Rouen
Elina Svitolina
20 Apr
WTA 1000
Madrid Open
Aryna Sabalenka
MAY 2026
Date
Level
Tournament
2025 Winner
4 May
WTA 1000
Italian Open
Jasmine Paolini
18 May
WTA 500
Internationaux de Strasbourg
Elena Rybakina
18 May
WTA 250
Morocco Open
Maya Joint
25 May
Grand Slam
French Open, Roland Garros
Coco Gauff
JUNE 2026
Date
Level
Tournament
2025 Winner
8 Jun
WTA 500
Queen’s Club Championships
Tatjana Maria
8 Jun
WTA 250
Libema Open
Elise Mertens
15 Jun
WTA 500
Berlin Open
Marketa Vondrousova
15 Jun
WTA 250
Nottingham Open
McCartney Kessler
22 Jun
WTA 500
Bad Homburg Open
Jessica Pegula
22 Jun
WTA 500
Eastbourne International
Maya Joint
29 Jun
Grand Slam
Wimbledon
Iga Swiatek
JULY 2026
Date
Level
Tournament
2025 Winner
13 Jul
WTA 250
Iași Open
Irina-Camelia Begu
20 Jul
WTA 250
Hamburg Open
Lois Boisson
20 Jul
WTA 250
Prague Open
Marie Bouzkova
27 Jul
WTA 500
Washington Open
Leylah Fernandez
AUGUST 2026
Date
Level
Tournament
2025 Winner
3 Aug
WTA 1000
Canadian Open
Victoria Mboko
13 Aug
WTA 1000
Cincinnati Masters
Iga Swiatek
24 Aug
WTA 500
Monterrey Open
Diana Shnaider
24 Aug
WTA 250
Tennis in the Land
Sorana Cirstea
31 Aug
Grand Slam
US Open
Aryna Sabalenka
SEPTEMBER 2026
Date
Level
Tournament
2025 Winner
14 Sep
WTA 500
Guadalajara Open
Iva Jovic
14 Sep
WTA 250
SP Open
Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah
21 Sep
WTA 500
Singapore Open
Elise Mertens
21 Sep
WTA 250
Korea Open
Iga Swiatek
30 Sep
WTA 1000
China Open
Amanda Anisimova
OCTOBER 2026
Date
Level
Tournament
2025 Winner
12 Oct
WTA 1000
Wuhan Open
Coco Gauff
19 Oct
WTA 500
Ningbo Open
Elena Rybakina
19 Oct
WTA 250
Japan Open
Leylah Fernandez
26 Oct
WTA 500
Pan Pacific Open
Belinda Bencic
26 Oct
WTA 250
Guangzhou Open
Ann Li
NOVEMBER 2026
Date
Level
Tournament
2025 Winner
2 Nov
WTA 250
Chennai Open
Janice Tjen
2 Nov
WTA 250
Jiangxi Open
Anna Blinkova
2 Nov
WTA 250
Hong Kong Open
Victoria Mboko
7 Nov
WTA Finals
WTA Finals
Elena Rybakina
Jorge Martin: From Heaven to Hell
Coming into the season as the reigning World Champion, the Spaniard endured a nightmare year, as injury derailed his debut campaign with Aprilia
This summer’s transfer market could be one of the busiest in recent years, with several high-profile stars already confirmed to be leaving their clubs and set to enter free agency.
Mohamed Salah, Casemiro and Robert Lewandowski headline the list of big names on the move, with their departures expected to spark interest from clubs across Europe, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Salah and Lewandowski have long attracted interest from Saudi clubs, with Al Ittihad reportedly seeing a £150 million bid for the former rejected in 2023. Casemiro, meanwhile, could also emerge as a target in the Saudi Pro League, where he would potentially reunite with former Real Madrid team-mates Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.
Veteran stars such as Luka Modric, Angel Di María and Paulo Dybala are also among the notable names nearing the end of their contracts, adding further intrigue to what could be a fascinating summer window.
Here is a look at some of the biggest players who could be available on free transfers this summer.
After a dramatic and injury-hit Catalan Grand Prix, MotoGP heads to one of its most iconic venues as the 2026 season rolls into Mugello for the Italian Grand Prix.
Ahead of the action, live on SPOTV NOW, here are five key facts to know.
Ducati’s home fortress
Ducati Lenovo Team finally ended their lengthy Sunday podium drought at the Catalan Grand Prix when Francesco Bagnaia was promoted to third, offering a timely boost ahead of their home race.
Few circuits have been kinder to Ducati than Mugello. The Italian manufacturer has won seven of the last eight premier-class races at the Tuscan venue, with Fabio Quartararo’s 2021 victory for Yamaha the only interruption to that dominant run. Bagnaia himself has been especially formidable at Mugello, winning multiple times in front of his home fans, making this an ideal opportunity for Ducati to build momentum after a difficult start to 2026.
The MotoGP full-time grid could be depleted when the paddock arrives in Mugello. Álex Márquez and Johann Zarco have joined Marc Márquez on the injury list following separate crashes at the Catalan Grand Prix, while Fabio Di Giannantonio sat out the Barcelona Test and Jorge Martín also suffered a heavy fall during that session.
Since the grid was reduced to 22 full-time riders in 2023 following Suzuki’s departure, the lowest turnout of full-timers in that span was 17 at the 2025 German Grand Prix and the 2023 Argentine Grand Prix. Depending on late medical clearances, Mugello could see teams calling up a handful of replacement riders.
Ai Ogura’s impressive sophomore MotoGP season could deliver another milestone this weekend. The Trackhouse Racing rider has scored points in five of the opening six Grands Prix, highlighted by a podium finish in the United States, and already sits on 77 points. That leaves the Japanese star just 13 points shy of surpassing his entire rookie-season tally of 89 points from 22 races last year.
If he continues his strong form at Mugello, Ogura could eclipse that mark before the championship even reaches its halfway stage, underlining how quickly the 2024 Moto2 world champion has adapted to premier-class racing.
Aprilia have been the early pace-setters in 2026, with Marco Bezzecchi spearheading a dominant start to the season. As a constructor, Aprilia have already recorded four Grand Prix wins this year, matching their best tally set in 2025, with some help from Trackhouse MotoGP Team.
With Ducati still searching for consistency and several rivals dealing with injury setbacks, Mugello could give Aprilia the chance to set a new single-season record for premier-class victories, all before the campaign crosses its one-third point.
MotoGP will not be the only attraction in Mugello, with the Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup returning for its second round of the season as a support class. After making its debut at the Circuit of the Americas in March, the championship resumes with plenty of intrigue, including Indonesian outfit Niti Racing welcoming former MotoGP race winner Andrea Iannone to its line-up.
Championship leader Archie McDonald arrives as the rider to beat after his strong opening weekend in Texas, while Óscar Gutiérrez and Jake Lewis will also be names to watch as the unique support series adds another spectacle to the Italian Grand Prix weekend.
When Auckland FC defeated Sydney FC to win the 2026 A-League Grand Final, the New Zealand outfit joined one of football’s most unusual groups: clubs that have won the top-flight title of a league outside their own country.
Cross-border participation is uncommon enough in football, but foreign clubs winning those competitions is rarer still. Here are the other teams that have achieved the feat.
AS Monaco (Monaco → France)
Based in the Principality of Monaco but competing in the French league system since the early 20th century, Monaco have won Ligue 1 eight times, with titles spanning from 1960-61 to 2016-17. Unlike guest clubs in regional leagues, Monaco’s participation in France is a long-standing arrangement, making them one of the permanent outliers in European football’s national league structure.
Singapore FA (Singapore → Malaysia)
The representative Singapore side competed in Malaysian domestic football for decades and were one of the major cross-border participants in the competition. They won Malaysia’s top-flight league twice, in 1985 and 1994, and remain the second-most successful side in Malaysia Cup history with 24 titles.
LionsXII (Singapore → Malaysia)
Singapore returned to Malaysian domestic football in 2012 under a cross-border arrangement through LionsXII, who made an immediate impact by finishing second in their debut Malaysian Super League campaign before winning the title in 2013. The club also lifted the 2015 Malaysian FA Cup before exiting the football scene completely.
Albirex Niigata (S) (Japan → Singapore)
Albirex Niigata (S) became one of Singapore football’s most successful foreign clubs after joining the S.League in 2004 as a satellite side of Japan’s Albirex Niigata. They won their first league title in 2016 and added five more crowns in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023, along with multiple domestic cup wins. Their sustained dominance made Albirex the most successful foreign club in Singapore’s top-flight history, although the club are set to be rebranded as FC Jurong from next season and transition into a permanent local identity.
Étoile became the first foreign club to win Singapore’s top-flight title when they claimed the 2010 S.League championship in their debut season. Made up largely of French players, the guest club topped the table under coach Patrick Vallée in an experiment by Singapore football authorities to internationalise the competition. The club folded after the 2011 season due to financial difficulties.
DPMM (Brunei → Singapore)
Brunei’s DPMM won the 2015 S.League title, becoming the first Bruneian club to capture Singapore’s top-flight crown, before repeating the feat in 2019. Both were landmark moments for a club that had spent most of their existence competing outside Brunei’s domestic structure.
Derry City (Northern Ireland → Republic of Ireland)
Based in Northern Ireland but competing in the Republic of Ireland’s league system, Derry City won the League of Ireland Premier Division in 1988-89 and 1996-97. Their first title was part of a domestic treble, with them also winning the FAI Cup and League Cup in one of the most successful seasons in the club’s history.
Despite being based in Oswestry, England, The New Saints have dominated Welsh domestic football for much of the modern era. TNS are the most successful club in Cymru Premier history with 18 league titles along with a long period of sustained domestic cup dominance.
Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch passed away at the age of 41, NASCAR confirmed on Thursday.
The news broke just hours after Busch’s family announced that he had been hospitalised due to a severe illness and would miss the upcoming Coca-Cola 600 race weekend.
Busch was one of the defining figures of modern NASCAR, winning Cup Series titles in 2015 and 2019 while becoming the all-time winningest driver across NASCAR’s three national series with 234 victories.
He remained a full-time Cup Series driver in 2026, with his most recent race win coming in 2023.
Beyond his success in the Cup Series, Busch also dominated in NASCAR’s Xfinity and Truck Series, cementing his legacy as one of the most versatile and prolific winners the sport has ever seen.
Tributes quickly poured in from across the motorsport world following news of his passing, as teams, drivers and fans remembered one of NASCAR’s biggest stars.
