British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Week 24 - WTA500 HSBC Championships Queens Club, London - Grass

verveandsolley · Lower Club Player

Amazing, thank you. What a rookie mistake. I assumed that if there weren't ground admission tickets available, there certainly wouldn't be show court tickets (had my Wimbledon hat on). Ground admission is indeed sold out, but seats on show court very much available.

the addict · Tennis legend

Yes, there were plenty available when I last looked - mainly in the upper parts of the stands, and considerably cheaper than £120 !
(I bought mine for tomorrow when they first went on sale)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

verveandsolley wrote:
Amazing, thank you. What a rookie mistake. I assumed that if there weren't ground admission tickets available, there certainly wouldn't be show court tickets (had my Wimbledon hat on). Ground admission is indeed sold out, but seats on show court very much available.

Brilliant !!!!

Glad to be of help biggrin

Your only 'fee' is to provide us with a little feedback of how it all went, especially if it involves 'gentle gossip', but even without smile

Hope you have a great time

verveandsolley · Lower Club Player

will do, ticket purchased! I've then got Qualifying Tues and Weds tickets... and for the first time in quite a few years not got ballot tickets for Wimbledon so might queue on the first Monday or Tuesday depending on OOP. Got both days booked off work!

HarryGem · Club Coach

Var wrote:
Noticed there are still tickets for sale for this tournament. Checked Eastbourne and centre court already sold out for finals day and also all limited availability for the week. I am not surprised, Eastbourne is a lovely tournament venue, Queens too corporate and expensive. Maybe the LTA will take note? Or not! Saw the clip on BBC this morning from Queens with Laura et al. saying how they wanted to spread the coverage of grass court tennis in UK hence the move from Eastbourne to London. Que?.? They are struggling to justify this.

They can't justify it other than in terms of money. Spreading the coverage of grass court tennis would require more tournaments outside of London and the South East but they have done the opposite.

Frankly an embarrassing number of empty seats for such a prestigious venue in the capital. Tickets too expensive, travel to London too expensive.

On another note are the BBC covering the second court at all? Doesn't seem to be either on their website or Iplayer?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

People have to remember, too, that Queens club members HATE the mens' event - and will doubly hate the women's (not because they're women, per se, but because it's a whole extra week)

There is huge anti feeling to it

And you can understand it - the grass court tennis season is very limited in the UK - people who pay swanky membership rates want to be able to use their facilities - invite their swanky friends etc
The whole place is effectively out of service this year for at least three weeks, probably slightly more

They were griping about something chronic last year, I can't believe it'll have got any better

So, if it's not even a commercial success, I doubt the Lta will keep it long

9vicman · Futures qualifying

I don't get the sense that this is a short term plan by the LTA. Birmingham was not commercially successful and not that well attended. In fact the grass court season as a whole makes a loss and Wimbledon contributes to financing it.

But having a WTA 500 at Queen's is more prestigious, and likely to get better media coverage. But as CD says, even the LTA can't be hemorrhaging money.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

9vicman wrote:
I don't get the sense that this is a short term plan by the LTA. Birmingham was not commercially successful and not that well attended. In fact the grass court season as a whole makes a loss and Wimbledon contributes to financing it.

But having a WTA 500 at Queen's is more prestigious, and likely to get better media coverage. But as CD says, even the LTA can't be hemorrhaging money.

My point is more that it doesn't necessarily matter what the plan of the LTA is, short term, or long term.

Queens is a private members club

It does not have to make its courts available to the LTA

There's very little upside to the club

ANd - as said, and as heard at length - the members really don't support the new women's event and having the courts taken up for an extra week

So, they were strong-armed into it this year, and I believe they agreed in principle to a few years, but there's no guarantees - and the LTA don't have the power to force ir through - there's only so many free Wimbledon tickets you can bribe people with

paulisi · Tennis legend

It's all about the money.
Nottingham, Eastbourne are loss making. Birmingham was also.
Queens gets the big city corporate sponsorship and should be able to be self sufficient.

HarryGem · Club Coach

9vicman wrote:
I don't get the sense that this is a short term plan by the LTA. Birmingham was not commercially successful and not that well attended. In fact the grass court season as a whole makes a loss and Wimbledon contributes to financing it.

But having a WTA 500 at Queen's is more prestigious, and likely to get better media coverage. But as CD says, even the LTA can't be hemorrhaging money.

Well I attended Birmingham every year since the second year of the tournament. There were some years where attendance was low but most years I went the stands were pretty full. Especially the year it was a 500 level. Not only that but that year especially there was a much better mix of the attendees.

I can't speak about the commercial side of the tournament but if you live outside of the London area you are basically stuffed as far as attending full WTA tournaments. Nottingham being the only one North of Watford.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
It's all about the money.
Nottingham, Eastbourne are loss making. Birmingham was also.
Queens gets the big city corporate sponsorship and should be able to be self sufficient.

Yes, but the members don't care about the sponsorhip and they don't need the profits - in fact, many of them have said they'd be happy to cough up more to make sure the event does NOT happen

seagull · Hall of fame

If Eastbourne is loss making (which whenever I go is packed to the rafters), how on earth to the other 250's make a profit (the ones where there is about 3 people there during the week).
Tickets are not cheap either..

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

there was legal advice taken by the Queens members to prevent the women's event, court cases threatened

inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/queens-club-members-plot-legal-action-to-stop-womens-tournament-in-2025-3107232

I think they were finally placated (by zillions of free Wimbledon tickets?)

But they haven't gone away

(again, this has nothing to do with profits, commercial success, sponsorships etc - it's purely to do with members' fury at being denied access to their facilities for a significant period of a short season)

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 9th of June 2025 01:40:58 PM

paulisi · Tennis legend

seagull wrote:
If Eastbourne is loss making (which whenever I go is packed to the rafters), how on earth to the other 250's make a profit (the ones where there is about 3 people there during the week).
Tickets are not cheap either..

Most 250's are fairly empty. They are funded by sponsors or governing bodies.