BEIJING — WTA Ventures will bring music onto the tournament stage in China through a new strategic partnership with QQ Music, beginning at the 2026 China Open in Beijing.
The agreement is WTA Ventures’ first with a Chinese music-streaming platform and will run throughout the five-stop 2026 WTA China Swing. It starts at the China Open, scheduled for September 28 to October 11, before extending to Wuhan, Ningbo, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
Quick facts
- QQ Music becomes WTA Ventures’ first music-streaming partner from China.
- The programme begins at the 2026 China Open in Beijing.
- Five WTA events are included in the 2026 China Swing.
- WTA international-event viewing in China rose by more than 30 times during 2025.
- The WTA’s Chinese social channels reached 2.3 million followers, up 17% year on year.
The collaboration will produce content connecting music with the players and narratives of women’s tennis. The aim is to use music to reflect competitors’ individual characters and emotions, offering spectators a tournament experience that reaches beyond results and rankings.
All five events on the swing are part of the plan: the China Open, Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open, 2026 BNB Ningbo Open, Guangzhou Open and Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open. No player field, draw or ranking-points allocation has yet been announced as part of the partnership.
The initiative arrives during a period of expanding interest in the women’s game in China. Wang Xinyu is ranked No. 38, Zhang Shuai No. 57, while Zheng Qinwen remains one of the country’s leading figures after winning Olympic gold in 2024.
Digital growth has been particularly sharp. Short-form platforms Douyin and Rednote, along with WeChat channels, drove growth of more than 370% across the WTA’s official Chinese social-media presence in 2025.
Sarah Swanson, WTA Ventures’ chief marketing officer, said the agreement forms part of the organisation’s Chinese-language digital strategy. She said music could help women’s tennis reach wider audiences and bring the energy of the WTA Tour to more fans.
Hau Zhang, vice president of QQ Music Business at Tencent Music Entertainment Group, said tennis has a strong following in China. He said QQ Music was pleased to work with WTA Ventures on new ways to connect the sport with music and support the growth of women’s tennis in the market.
