The 2026 China Open wrapped up on Sunday as organizers hailed this year's event as the most successful ever edition of the annual tennis tournament in Beijing, with record-breaking figures in terms of spectator attendance and commercial performance and positive feedback from the world's top players.
The tournament, which saw activities get underway at the National Tennis Center in the Chinese capital back on Sept 13, concluded on Sunday with delight for the home fans as Chinese star Zheng Qinwen captured the women's title, after veteran champion Novak Djokovic rolled back the years to win the men's event last week.
Organizers say the event saw its highest ever number of matches played across both the men's and women's competitions, including qualifiers and the main draw, while there were more than 450,000 spectators coming through the gates.
Speaking at a press conference as the event drew to a close on Sunday, officials highlighted the tournament's growing national and international reach, as more spectators from outside Beijing came to soak up the action, including nearly 10,000 from overseas.
"The total number of matches during the tournament exceeded 1,600 -- the highest in its history. Across the event, the total number of visitors to the National Tennis Center is expected to exceed 450,000, a year-on-year increase of 25 percent. Among them, spectators from outside Beijing accounted for 60 percent, and nearly 10,000 were overseas spectators," Chen Jie, executive deputy director general and secretary general of the China Open Organizing Committee, told the press conference.
Chen also listed a series of commercial figures which underscored the tournament's expanding economic footprint.
"Comprehensive consumption during the tournament is expected to exceed 55 million yuan (over 8.2 million U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 55 percent. Licensed merchandise sales revenue reached 28 million yuan (nearly 4.2 million U.S. dollars), twice as much as last year. According to assessment data, this tournament generated a direct economic impact of 2.590 billion yuan (about 390 million U.S. dollars), and an indirect economic impact of 6.671 billion yuan (approximately 1 billion U.S. dollars)," he said.
Behind the numbers, organizers credited the event's improved operational standards for driving positive feedback from players. Co-tournament director Lars Graff said the China Open has set its sights on matching the level of the sport's four Grand Slam tournaments.
"It's been extremely positive feedback from the players. Mr. Chen, I think he said it well when he said that the China Open wants to have Grand Slam standards. So, this starts already at the airport and the players are arriving at 02:00 in the morning, 04:00 in the morning, and they are never left alone, there's always somebody picking them up, and then they get the car service to the hotel. And then the improvements we did on the site, in the players' lounge -- the players had a lot of activities there," he said,
"No one is perfect, not even the China Open, so we always get some recommendations from the WTA (Women's Tennis Association) supervisors and ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) supervisors, and of course we try to look at those recommendations and change it, but the player feedback is overwhelming," Graff continued.
The strong showing comes as the China Open continues to cement its position as one of the premier stops on the professional tennis calendar, bridging the ATP and WTA tours' Asian swing and drawing a growing share of international visitors to the Chinese capital.
Organizers said the tournament's ability to attract spectators from across China and abroad reflects both the country's expanding tennis culture and the event's rising global profile.
China Open sets multiple tournament records, draws positive player feedback: organizers
