The Queen’s Club will host a WTA 500 tournament next year for the first time in more than a half-century, it has been announced in London this week.
We have absolute confidence that we can stage a two-week event at the Queen’s Club. Obviously The Championships at Wimbledon prove that grass can withstand two weeks of tennis. We’ve got independent data that really provides a lot of evidence that the men’s week will not suffer in any way, shape or form. Chris Pollard, LTA Director of Major Events and Digital
The women’s event will take place the week after the French Open, ushering in the start of tennis’ short grass-court campaign, and putting it among the warm-up tournaments for The Championships at Wimbledon, while the men’s ATP Tour event will be held the following week.
The LTA and the All England Club have been reviewing the entire grass court season over the past 2 years with a view of improving the experience for fans and players, and raising the profile and visibility of tennis in Britain during the run-up to Wimbledon.
The unveiled plans offer more fans the opportunity to watch professional tennis, particularly women’s tennis, both live and on television, whilst ensuring that there are the same number of playing opportunities for British and overseas players across the 4-week period.
The 2025 grass court season will launch with a combined challenger level event at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham in the week of 2 June, the first male and female combined event in pro tennis history in Birmingham.
The following week will see the return of a tour level women’s event in London for the first time in over 50 years, as The Queen’s Club plays host to the high-profile WTA 500 event.
The traditional combined challenger level event at Ilkley will also take place in this same week, with the exact classification of these to be confirmed in the coming months.
The week of 16 June will see Queen’s host its hugely popular men’s ATP 500 tournament in its usual slot, while, alongside, the Lexus Nottingham Tennis Centre will stage a women’s WTA 250 event and a men’s ATP 125 Challenger event.
The final week of the season ahead of The Championships will see Devonshire Park in Eastbourne host a combined WTA/ATP 250 in its traditional week, as players head to the coast before making their final preparations for a trip to Wimbledon.
The changes mean the mixed event in Surbiton, south-west London, will come to an end after 2024.
The WTA 500 event will move from Devonshire Park in Eastbourne to Queen’s and will be replaced with a combined ATP/WTA 250 tournament in 2025
LTA.org.uk
Some male players have raised concerns that the quality of the grass at The Queen’s Club will be impacted by the women’s tournament being staged there first, and Chris Pollard, the LTA’s Director of Major Events and Digital, said the arrangement could end up only being for a year.
“We have absolute confidence that we can stage a two-week event at the Queen’s Club,” Pollard said. “Obviously the championships at Wimbledon prove that grass can withstand two weeks of tennis.
“We’ve got independent data that really provides a lot of evidence that the men’s week will not suffer in any way, shape or form.
“We’ve had many discussions with both tours in respect of that. [The ATP] has given the green light for the tournament to take place in 2025, and we continue to have an ongoing dialogue with them in respect of the success of the 2025 tournament.”
Pollard added that the ATP Tour ‘would like to consider what happens after 2025’.
“But, we remain in very close dialogue with them on that point, and remain very confident that it will be a permanent change,” he said.
The WTA has released the calendar for 2025
WTAtennis.com
The announcement coincided with the WTA’s publication of the 2025 Hologic WTA Tour calendar, featuring over 50 tournaments across 26 countries and regions, providing the tour’s athletes with multiple opportunities to earn valuable points toward the WTA Rankings.
In its statement, the WTA says the 2025 season will mark the second full year of the revised calendar structure, which was introduced to better showcase the top athletes playing the top events, and support sustainable long-term growth for players, tournaments and all stakeholders in the sport.
Key changes to the 2025 calendar include:
- The WTA 500 in Eastbourne, UK will change location to The Queen’s Club, London and take place the week of June 9, in the first week of the grass season.
- The Nottingham WTA 250 event, also in the UK, moves one week later to the second week of the grass court season, the week of June 16
- A WTA 250 will run in Eastbourne the week of June 23, Week 3 of the grass season, combined with an ATP 250. The WTA 500 in Bad Homburg, Germany remains in the third week of the grass season, alongside Eastbourne
- WTA 1000 events of The National Bank Open presented by Rogers (Montreal) and the Cincinnati Open will expand to become 12-day tournaments, taking place over three weeks in the summer.
“The 2025 calendar offers a clear and exciting narrative for our 1 billion global fan base to follow this incredible sport,” said Steve Simon, WTA Chairman and CEO. “We strive to create the best possible experience for everyone involved in women’s tennis, and from our first tournaments in Australia through to the WTA Finals Riyadh, it’s going to be another captivating season on the Hologic WTA Tour in 2025.”
2025 marks the 52nd year since the WTA was founded by Billie Jean King in 1973, uniting all of women’s professional tennis under one elite tour.
Since then, the Hologic WTA Tour has grown to more than 1,600 athletes and $212 million in prize money at events around the globe.
Click here to see the full 2025 Hologic WTA Tour calendar.
