Seeded 13th at the Wuhan Open, Vinci was defeated in the second round by Yaroslava Shvedova, 7–5, 6–2. Seeded 13th at the China Open, she lost in the second round to Caroline Wozniacki, 3–6, 2–6. Vinci's final tournament of the year was the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai. Seeded fifth, Vinci lost her first match to 9th seed Barbora Strýcová, 4–6, 3–6. In her final match, Vinci was defeated by third seed and eventual champion Petra Kvitová, 6–1, 6–2. In November, Vinci was contemplating retirement from Tennis due to her poor results and tiredness. However, on 21 November 2016, Vinci decided to play at least one more year.