Preview: What tennis events are coming up in October 2023?

As the ATP and WTA tours head to Asia for a busy month – we highlight all of the must-watch tournaments of October across all of the tours.

Key events

• Rolex Shanghai Masters
• WTA Finals
• NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters/Wheelchair Doubles Masters (ITF Masters Series)

4-15 October: Penultimate Masters 1000 event gets underway in Shanghai

Rolex Shanghai Masters (1000)

Starting off strong in the opening week of the month - the penultimate Masters 1000 event of 2023 awaits, as the best talent on the ATP tour prepare for a return to the Shanghai Masters.

Making its first appearance on the ATP calendar since 2019, this year’s instalment is set to feature almost all the world’s top 20 players, with Brits Cam Norrie, Dan Evans and three-time champion Andy Murray also expected to join an illustrious line-up of international talent including reigning champion Daniil Medvedev.

9-15 October: WTA tour resumes in Asia

• Zhengzhou Open (WTA 500)
• Hana Bank Korea Open (WTA 250)
• Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open (WTA 250)
• Open de Rouen Capfinances (WTA 125)
• Malaga Open (Challenger 125)
• Puegeot Slovak Open (Challenger 125)
• Israel Open (ITF 1 Series)

Zhengzhou Open

Meanwhile, the WTA tour continues its Asian swing, with the Zhengzhou Open headlining three events in the second week of October.

2019 marked the inaugural year of the WTA 500 event, which saw Karolina Pliskova overcome Petra Martic to take the title. With players eager to pick up points in a bid to be qualify for the WTA Finals later in the month, you can expect to see a host of this year’s Grand Slam finalists take to the stage in Zhengzhou, including Australian Open runner-up Elena Rybakina, Ons Jabeur, Karolina Muchova and Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrusova.

Hana Bank Korea Open

Elsewhere, the Hana Bank Korea Open will be taking place in Seoul between 9-15 October. Remarkably, since the tournament’s creation in 2004, no player has been able to win the title more than once, with 18 women having taken home the silverware since Maria Sharapova’s victory in 2014.

The 2022 tournament saw Britain’s Emma Raducanu reach the semi-final of the WTA 250 event before being forced to retire in the final set against Jelena Ostapenko.

16-22: World's best players to feature in Tokyo

• Tokyo Open (ATP 500)
• Jiangxi Open (WTA 250)
• Transylvania Open (WTA 250)
• Jasmin Open Monastir (WTA 250)
• BNP Paribas Nordic Open (ATP 250)
• European Open (ATP 250)
• Olbia (Challenger 125)
• W100 Shrewsbury (W100)

Tokyo Open

We’ll then move on to the longest-running ATP tournament in Asia – the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships. Played at the Ariake Colosseum, the tournament has seen some of the world’s best players, past and present, be crowned champion, including Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Murray, Rafael Nadal, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras.

Now entering its 51^st edition, the Tokyo-based event will be held at the Ariake Colosseum – an expansive tennis complex comprising 48 courts and is set to serve a weeks’ worth of world-class tennis entertainment you won’t want to miss.

23-29: WTA wraps up the season in Cancun

• Erste Bank Open (ATP 500)
• Swiss Indoors Basel (ATP 500)
• Abierto Tampico (WTA 125)
• WTA Elite Trophy (Finals)
• WTA Finals Cancun
• Dow Tennis Classic (WTA 125)
• Catalonia Open (ITF 1 Series)
• NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters/Wheelchair Doubles Masters (ITF Masters Series)

WTA Finals

This season’s year-end WTA Finals will take place from 29 October–5 November with the world’s top eight singles players and doubles teams heading to Cancun, Mexico in a bid to be crowned champion. With Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina having already qualified for the final showdown, four spaces are still up for grabs in what we can expect to be a competitive final showdown.

Last year, France’s Caroline Garcia came out on top against Aryna Sabalenka to take the crown, while Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens lifted the doubles title.

NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters/ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters

The wheelchair tours will make the journey to Spain for the 2023 Wheelchair Singles Masters/ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters, the sport’s year-end championships.

The entry lists have just been confirmed, with world No.2 and two-time champion Alfie Hewett set to contest the men's singles title alongside Gordon Reid and Andy Lapthorne joining the quad singles draw. Hewett and Reid team up in a bid to take home the men’s doubles trophy for the third time, while Lucy Shuker also contests the women’s doubles alongside American Dana Mathewson, with whom Shuker has already won two titles this season. 

Lapthorne will also have an American partner for the quad doubles, teaming up with David Wagner to try and regain a title that Lapthorne has won twice before with two different British partners.