If you are a tennis fan living in Thailand you are in for a treat. Won’t you join me for the WTA Thailand Open, held at the True Arena, Hua Hin from 29 January to 4 February 2024?
What is the WTA Thailand Open?
Thailand Open is a professional WTA tournament to be played on outdoor hard courts. It will be the 4th edition of the Thailand Open as part of the WTA 250 tournaments of the 2024 WTA Tour.
The Thailand Open starts with qualifying rounds slated for January 27-28 2024, followed by the main draw competition running from January 29 to February 4 2024.
WTA Thailand Open has the mountains on one side beach on the other
Why you should attend the WTA Thailand Open?
I enjoy women’s pro tennis here in Thailand and have attended this event three times. My tennis wanderings have taken me to Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Malaysian Open, Australian Open not to mention plenty of ITF and WTA regional tournaments. We are so lucky to have this tournament in our own backyard here in Asia.
‘The WTA Thailand Open offers fans and the players a winning combination.
We get the best of tennis and the best of Thailand in the Hua Hin beach location.’
Little Wandering Wren
So read on, I’ll show you what’s on offer and some of the exciting developments for the WTA Thailand Open 2024.
See the world’s best women’s players
Hot on the heels of the Australian Open, you’ll be able to watch some of the world’s best female tennis players in action.
The WTA Thailand Open is big news for tennis in Thailand with total prize money of USD 267,082, or approximately THB 9.4 million. In 2024 the list of currently announced players can be found here and you will notice familiar names from the world’s top 100 players in action:
Player news
The entry list is led by 2023 Australian Open semifinalist Magda Linette, who won the WTA Thailand Open during its staging as an international WTA event in 2020. There are five other players ranked in the world’s Top 50 (entry ranking) have signed up to play in this tournament, including China’s No. 2 player Lin Zhu.
I shall of course be cheering for my fellow Aussie Ajla Tomljanovic and if you are from Germany, Poland, The Netherlands, France, Spain, the United States and more, you will be able to cheer your homeland stars.
Paula Bodosa sends a message to fans as she counts down to her Thailand Open debut.
See the full draw here.
Get to know the Thai Tennis Talent
For me personally, I will enjoy getting to know some of our local Thai tennis players who will be awarded wildcard entries to play. The tournament will surely do wonders for tennis across the country and who knows whether the next Paradorn Srichaphan is sitting in the stands?
You will likely spot Paradorn as he is the 2024 Tournament Co-Director!
Cheering on fellow Aussie Ajla Tomljanovic Hua Hin 2019
See the Qualifying Competition
I always love the Qualifying Tournaments at tennis tournaments, you can see some incredible matches.
Here in Thailand, 24 players will enter the Qualifying Tournament on January 27-28 2024. They need to win three consecutive matches for a converted place in the main draw.
More details on the WTA Thailand Open Qualies are found here
Where is the Hua Hin Tennis Tournament?
The Tournament is held at It’s a fabulous regional sports complex and check out the sunken grandstand at the Centre Court. In recent years it had a pink makeover.
The Centre Court is fabulously pink
It’s the only sunken court in South East Asia and it is modelled on Rod Laver Arena. The sheltered grandstand provides seating for 2,500 tennis fans.
At Hua Hin, there is no such thing as a bad seat from a viewing perspective. However, I will be interested to see whether they’ve been able to put any extra shade on the seats at the side of the court for 2024.
My tip is to try for tickets in the main shaded grandstand
Weather
The February weather in Hua Hin is expected to be a very pleasant 30°C most of the week.
Check out our earlier posts on what to pack for the tennis. This blog post is full of tips of how to cope at the tennis in Extreme Heat.
For a good cause
This WTA Thailand Open in 2020 raised over $50,000 for a breast cancer charity.
Food, drink, shopping and happy toilets.
Last time I attended there was a small food and drink court, some sportswear stalls, as well as some opportunities for photographs and some tennis activities. I will be excited to see the development in this area. I hope they are bringing the Happy Toilets back!
Beach Location
Hua Hin has been a popular weekend escape from Bangkok since the 1920s when the Thai Royal family built summer palaces here. Hua Hin beach is loved for its fabulous long beach, kitesurfing and other water sports. For all the information you need on what to see and do: See TAT Tourism Thailand’s Hua Hin
Where to Stay
The official hotel partners are the Intercontinental Hotel and Resorts and the Holiday Inn Resort Vana Nava Hua Hin but you’ll have plenty of choice from a variety of hotels.
The following Hua Hin hotels and resorts, we have enjoyed include Anantara Hua Hin here , and more here, The Hyatt Regency Hua Hin, Dusit Thani Hua Hin, Cape Nidra Hua Hin and more about Cape Nidra & Hua Hin beach views.
Anantara Hua Hin
Hua Hin activities
You won’t have a lot of time spare between the tennis, beach wanders and relaxing at your fabulous hotel. However if you can spare some time, I recommend a visit to Monsoon Valley Winery. The winery is 35 km outside of Hua Hin and they conveniently offer transport
It’s a tournament in the happening phase!
In 2019 I said the WTA Thailand Open was a tournament in its building phase. In 2020 I saw it as a tournament in the proving phase. It very much looks like the WTA has backed this tournament the whole way.
I see the WTA Thailand Open as having moved into the happening phase. The talent pool of interest from amongst the players is growing, the facilities are great, and the prize money has increased. Certainly, we know that Thailand is keen to establish itself as a Regional Sporting Hub.
The next thing that is needed is to see how big the fan base is in Thailand…
C’mon, let’s all go to Hua Hin and enjoy the world-class tennis.
This is too good an event not to miss!
True Arena Hua Hin details
Tournament Location:
True Arena Hua Hin
52/52 Petchkasem Road Hua Hin, Amphoe Hua Hin, Chang Wat Prachuap Khiri Khan 77110
+66 (0)32 909 633
Tickets
The entrance to the tournament is FREE OF CHARGE. For a seat in the grandstand tickets can be purchased via the Thailand Open website: wtathailandopen.com.
It’s great value with a full weekend of tennis at THB 2,000 and a Finals Day Pass at THB 1,200
A full VIP ticket starts at THB 10,000.
Further tennis reading
Little Wandering Wren completed her Fan Slam in 2023, attending all four Grand Slams across the globe. You can read more here:
The Wimbledon Championships and how to be part of it in 2024
How to enjoy ace days at Roland Garros
Hua Hin WTA Thailand Open 2019
For all the tennis updates, do follow along on @littlewanderingwren’s Instagram and subscribe to this blog to follow Little Wandering Wrens birds eye view of the world here.
Happy Wandering and see you there!
3 comments
Hello, looks like a fun event. Enjoy! Enjoy your day, wishing you a good week ahead.
Happy toilets??? Oh my…
I’m sure it will be a great event …
Good luck to all players.
All the best Jan