The finals of the BJK Cup national teams women’s tennis tournament will return to Shenzhen, China, for the next three years.

As was unveiled by the tournament’s organizers - the International Tennis Federation - yesterday (January 23), the next edition of the week-long finals will be contested by China (as the host nation), alongside 2024 winners Italy and six other qualifying teams.

Three Shenzen venues are being considered, including the Shenzhen Bay Sports Arena which staged the WTA Finals in 2019.

The first four BJK Cup Finals took place in Prague, Glasgow, Seville, and Malaga (in that order), but the ITF now believes that a global event such as this has to expand beyond Europe.

The deal is another step towards China’s full reintegration into the world of women’s tennis.

In November 2021, Peng Shuai, a prominent Chinese tennis player throughout the 2010s, disappeared following allegations of rape she made against a senior Chinese government member.

In the aftermath of her disappearance, the Women’s Tennis Association suspended all its events in China (only to bring them back in mid-2023).

Then, in November last year, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV struck a deal to show the end-of-year finals - the first time that event has received linear coverage in the country since before the Peng Shuai incident.

Now, the BJK Cup Finals moving back to Shenzhen signifies China is moving even closer to the authorities in the women's game.

The Billie Jean King Cup, which was known as the Fed Cup until 2020, is contested by around 100 nations, with six going on to the round-robin finals, hosted in a single location.

Last year’s finals took place at the Palacio de los Deportes Martín Carpena Arena in Malaga, Spain.