"It is not all about money," Lawler said, adding that the decision to move to Shenzhen had a lot to do with the ongoing growth of China's women's tennis, even without Li Na playing, and the country's emerging tennis market, which boasts a busy calendar of both WTA and ATP events of the sport's Asian Swing. From September to next January, tournaments including the Premier 5 Wuhan Open, Premier Mandatory China Open, ATP 1000 Shanghai Rolex Masters and WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai will be held back-to-back in China.

"If you look back at the history of what adding the events has done to the Asian Swing, you will see we have increased the TV and social media audience, fan engagement... China Open went from 29,000 attendees in 2007 to now 400,000 and that is explosive," said Lawler, who has been at the center of the growth of professional tennis, on the sides of both genders, for over three decades, driving business across athlete representation, events, international expansion, governance and sponsorship.

"We do have a plan to grow attendance worldwide; to tell the truth, China is the easiest. We are very fortunate to have such a big footprint in China."

In 2017, the WTA established its digital streaming partnership with China's top online video content platform iQIYI. For the next 10 years, Chinese fans will get access to never-before-seen women's tennis content online.