Professional women's tennis is coming back to Philadelphia for the first time in more than 20 years, and it's landing right on the University of Pennsylvania's campus. The Ennoble Care Philly Open runs August 23 through 29 at the Hamlin Tennis Center, bringing dozens of elite players — including 14 competitors ranked in the world's top 100 — to a city that hasn't hosted a women's pro tournament since 2005.
The event is a WTA 125 tournament, a challenger-level circuit that awards world ranking points and often serves as a springboard toward the sport's bigger stages, according to the WTA Tour. Its field includes Russia's Liudmila Samsonova, Germany's Eva Lys, Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, and American Ashlyn Krueger, per PHL17 News. Scheduling the tournament for the week immediately before the U.S. Open in New York gave organizers a strategic edge, drawing top-ranked players looking for tune-up matches close to home.
A Two-Decade Wait Finally Ends
Philadelphia's last taste of professional women's tennis came in 2005, when the Advanta Championships — a WTA Tier II indoor hardcourt event at Villanova University's Pavilion — crowned France's Amélie Mauresmo champion for the third consecutive year before folding, according to Wikipedia. That tournament traced its roots back to 1970's ITPA Indoor Open, a run that stretched 35 years and crowned Grand Slam legends including Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, and Lindsay Davenport under various names, including the Virginia Slims of Philadelphia, per Grand Slam History.
University of Pennsylvania head women's tennis coach Sanela Kunovac had been chasing this moment since Hamlin Tennis Center opened in 2011, working for years to land a professional tournament on campus, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. To make it happen, organizers built a temporary 1,200-seat center court across three of Hamlin's 12 outdoor courts, transforming a college facility into a professional venue overlooking the Philadelphia skyline, the newspaper reports. Penn's own freshman tennis players will serve as official hitting partners for the incoming top-100 pros throughout tournament week, per the same account.
From a Basketball Kickoff to a WTA Deal
The tournament's origin traces back to a January 2026 Unrivaled basketball kickoff event, where United States Tennis Association Middle States DEI Director Renee Bridges met Philadelphia Sisters co-founder Alex Sykes — a chance meeting that turned into WTA event planning within weeks, the Inquirer reported in May. The Philadelphia Sisters, a group formed in 2019 to advocate for local women's sports franchises, spearheaded the commercial campaign behind the event, bringing in Ennoble Care as title sponsor and raising 90 percent of the tournament's sponsorship revenue, according to Sisters Sports Group.
The organization, co-founded by comedian Wanda Sykes and her wife Alex Sykes alongside local civic leaders, had already brought Unrivaled's 3-on-3 women's basketball league to Philadelphia earlier this year, per PHL17 News. That Unrivaled game drew 21,490 fans on January 30, 2026, marking the largest crowd ever at Xfinity Mobile Arena and setting a record for a regular-season women's professional basketball game, the outlet reports. The Philadelphia Sisters say tennis is just the beginning, and the group hopes top-level competition will inspire the next generation of local athletes — the organization is also considering bringing lacrosse, ice hockey, and soccer to Philadelphia as it works to establish the city as a destination for women's sports.
A Three-Year Commitment and a Local Wild Card
Organizers secured a three-year hosting contract guaranteeing the tournament's return in 2027 with an option for 2028, the Inquirer reported in May — a runway they hope eventually leads to higher-tier WTA 250 or 500 events in Philadelphia. In the meantime, the tournament is giving a hometown player her moment: Philadelphia native and UPenn star Esha Velaga received a qualifying wild card and was selected to play the tournament's opening match on Sunday, according to NJ Family. Velaga previously qualified for the 2026 NCAA singles championship, the outlet notes.
Around 200 volunteers will help run the tournament, according to organizers cited by PHL17 News, including local high school players and ball kids drawn from Penn tennis camps. The event also includes a vendor village and a Pride Night on August 27 at Ballers Philadelphia, a separately ticketed evening beginning at 8 p.m. that features entertainment, local LGBTQIA+ organizations, and access to Ballers' courts and recreational amenities.
Tickets and Community Events
Single-session tickets for the Ennoble Care Philly Open range from $20 to $47, with full-session tournament passes priced at $515, according to MyChesCo. Daytime and evening sessions will feature two to three matches per court, and the tournament also includes community programming such as a Kids' Day and a One-Point 5K Challenge. The total financial commitment behind the event, spanning a 32-player singles draw and 16-team doubles draw, comes to $115,000, per the WTA Tour.
