Latest news with #AELTC
The Sun
30 minutes ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Wimbledon tennis finals to be shown on new TV channel after 88 years of BBC coverage
THE Wimbledon singles finals will be shown live on a BBC rival - giving the broadcaster a unique boast. Eurosport have landed a five-year deal that also includes a daily 90-minute package of tennis highlights from SW19. 2 The company is now boasting its the "only channel in the UK to show live coverage of all four of the sport's major singles prizes". That's Wimbledon, plus the French, US and Australian Open s. However, the Beeb will remain Wimbledon's main domestic broadcaster - after its 88 years of coverage. The arrangements with BBC and Eurosport are both with the All England Lawn Tennis Cub (AELTC). Ofcom Listed Events regulations allow for "secondary broadcasters" at major sporting tournaments. And that's the status Eurosport is taking with the AELTC at Wimbledon. Susanna Dinnage, MD of Discovery Networks UK and Ireland said the new deal "cements" Eurosport's "position as the Home of Grand Slam Tennis in the UK'. Former Sky Sports presenter Rob Curling will host the channel's nightly highlights from 10pm. This year's Wimbledon runs from Monday June 30 to Sunday July 13. Britain's two-time SW19 king Andy Murray could return as a Beeb pundit, having ended a six-month stint coaching Novak Djokovic. The grass-court tournament retains pride of place in the BBC's sporting armoury. But it costs the Beeb around £60million a year for the privilege.
BBC News
23-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Wimbledon delivers 'record' £50m to British tennis
Last year's Wimbledon Championships delivered a "record surplus" of nearly £50m for British Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) received £49.853m last year, under an agreement which allows The All England Club (AELTC) to pass on 90% of its profits to the governing body each year."Despite a wet championships, the company delivered a record surplus for the LTA," the annual report AELTC's financial statement for the year to July 2024 also reveals slightly increased profits of £54.332m, and turnover which rose to £ money has doubled in the past 10 years, but players have long been agitating for a greater share of the revenue generated by the four Grand month, the top 20 men's and women's players sent a letter asking for more prize money to the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
The Guardian
03-04-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Henman Hill to get shelter under fresh Wimbledon expansion plans
Different generations of tennis fans may disagree on its name – to traditionalists it will always be Henman Hill, millennials probably plump for Murray Mound and gen Z may know it as Raducanu Rise or even, regrettably, Jack's Stack – but all ages can agree that bringing a little shelter to Wimbledon's most famous viewing area can only be a good thing. Wimbledon's Hill – which since 1997 has allowed tennis fans with a grounds pass to watch the action on No 1 Court live atop its grassy knoll – is getting a makeover, the All England Lawn and Tennis Club (AELTC) has announced. A multimillion-pound development, due to be finished in time for the 2027 championships, will boost the Hill's capacity by 20% and improve accessibility for wheelchair users. Plans include a new pergola – and there is little Wimbledon likes more than a pergola – which will provide a space for more hanging plants to provide shade and protection from British summer rain. The pergola, which will replace the structure at the top of the Hill, will wrap around the area's 150-year-old oak tree while the AELTC hopes to make the area more environmentally sustainable by replacing tarmac paths with permeable resin. New accessible pathways to cross the slope aim to make the Hill easier to navigate for wheelchair users. 'The redevelopment of our world-famous Hill, in time for the championships 2027, will allow even more tennis fans to enjoy its unique atmosphere and vantage point,' said Deborah Jevans, the AELTC chair. 'I am particularly pleased that these plans will increase the accessibility of the Hill for our guests using wheelchairs or who have additional accessibility requirements. It is an exciting opportunity as we look towards 2027 and the 150th anniversary of the first championships.' A consultation for local residents to learn more about the plans and give feedback is planned on 10 April before a planning application is submitted to Merton council. The AELTC will hope it is a smoother process than it experienced with its plan to vastly expand its grand slam venue, which aims to add 39 courts and an 8,000-seat show court, and to restore a lake designed by Capability Brown. In January a campaign group, Save Wimbledon Park, started legal action to stop the expansion of the club, calling for a judicial review of plans to convert a swathe of the former Wimbledon Park golf course. The protest group says the development of the 29-hectare (72-acre) site – which was given planning permission in September by the mayor of London's office – is 'inappropriate'. Work on the new-look Hill will start after the 2026 championships, and is expected to be unveiled – presumably with Pimm's to toast the occasion – for the 150th anniversary of the tournament in 2027. Ruth Hopkins, general manager and head of access at the charity Level Playing Field, said: 'I am delighted that Level Playing Field has played an important role in working with the AELTC to enhance their world-famous hill to be an inclusive and accessible space for everyone attending Wimbledon. 'These plans will deliver significant improvements for all guests but particularly for those with accessibility requirements.'
BBC News
03-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Top-20 players ask Grand Slams for more prize money
The top 20 men's and women's players have sent a letter to the four Grand Slams asking for more prize letter, which was first reported by French newspaper L'Equipe, requested a meeting to discuss players receiving a greater share of the revenue generated by the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US number 11 Emma Navarro cited "unfair pay ratios" as a reason for putting her name to the letter."I talked a little bit to the other players about it and felt like it was a good idea to sign", the 23-year-old American said on Wednesday."I think it's a good cause to come together as players and make sure we're getting treated fairly." Prize money at last year's Wimbledon was £50m, exactly double the amount offered in 2014. In that 10-year period, prize money for first-round losers increased from £27,000 to £60, players have frequently pointed to the vast revenues generated by the Grand Slams, and feel they deserve a significantly larger the year up to July 2023, the All England Club (AELTC) had a turnover of £380m. But once the costs of running the Championships were deducted, the operating profit was just under £ £49m of that went to the LTA, as the AELTC has agreed to pay the governing body 90% of its annual surplus until include prize money, employing more than 8,000 seasonal staff, preparing and developing the site and supporting other grass court champion Zheng Qinwen said increased prize money would be particularly welcomed by lower-ranked players, who can struggle to make ends meet at other times of the year."I think that's going to benefit all the players, not only the top players, especially those that work hard during the year and need to get paid from the Grand Slams and have to survive," added the Chinese world number eight."We try to do what we can, and then let's see what the gods bring to us. But at least we're trying."
New York Times
11-02-2025
- Business
- New York Times
U.S. Open takes Grand Slam tennis to a new scheduling frontier with mixed-doubles qualifying move
For years, the biggest tournaments in tennis — Wimbledon and the U.S., French and Australian Opens — have been tiptoeing around expanding from two-week events to three. They've opened the gates for practices and matches in their qualifying tournaments. They've held charity exhibitions involving star players. Three of the four have added a day to the first round, starting their singles draws on a Sunday rather than the Monday. Advertisement And the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) is pushing a $250million (£202m) expansion plan that will allow it to bring Wimbledon qualifying to the site of the main event in south-west London, just like its three friendly Grand Slam rivals. Tuesday, the U.S. Open crossed the Rubicon by announcing that a main-draw event will take place during what has always been referred to as 'the week before the tournament' — or 'qualifying week,' or 'Fan Week,' as the marketing whizzes at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) prefer. Starting this summer, the U.S. Open's mixed-doubles tournament will take place on the Tuesday and Wednesday of that week, meaning that there will be 'real' tennis, with an eventual Grand Slam title and $1million prize on the line, five days before the men's and women's singles competitions begin for real. Lewis Sherr, chief executive of the USTA, has pushed Grand Slam tennis towards its next frontier by staging an event that will allow the New York tournament to charge real money for tickets sooner than the sport's other three majors. It will justify possible price increases for corporate suites, sponsorships, media-rights and the premium box seats that the highest-end fans buy up for the entirety of the tournament. Entry to the grounds of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is free during qualifying week. For last year's exhibition tournaments, including the 'Mixed Doubles Madness' that inspired the format for the main tournament in 2025, the cheapest tickets were $30. A USTA official said it is too early to say what the cost of entry would be for the new mixed-doubles event, which will take place in the site's main two stadiums, Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong. In an interview, Sherr made it clear he doesn't anticipate going it alone with this for long. 'I'm hopeful this becomes a new franchise and tentpole in tennis, not just at the U.S. Open, but elsewhere and throughout the year to attract more folks,' he said. The change, along with a new format including first-to-four-games (down from the traditional six) sets up until the final, is designed to attract top singles players by reducing the risk of them getting injured in mixed doubles before their main priority gets underway. It formalizes an existential quandary that has occupied doubles basically forever: from tactics and court geometry to fame and finances, it is essentially a different sport to singles. Advertisement How much tennis should embrace that difference, as opposed to fighting against it, is the essential schism at the heart of decisions like these. The USTA believes that grafting singles stardom onto the doubles court will raise the profile of the latter discipline; while some top doubles players feel they are being denied the glamor of having their own show. Pam Shriver, the 22-time Grand Slam doubles champion who won the mixed title at the 1987 French Open with Emilio Sanchez Vicario, credits Eric Butorac, a former doubles player who is now director of pro tennis operations and player relations for the USTA, for buttonholing people around the sport for ideas on what the tournament could do to improve the two-v-two experience. Shriver said she opted not to play much mixed doubles, because juggling that, singles and women's doubles was a lot. 'Given the journey doubles has taken since the end of my career, I think this (new format) makes sense,' she said Monday night. 'If you had told me I could have played mixed the week before the singles, I think I would have done it.' Austin Krajicek, a former doubles world No. 1 who reached the mixed final at the 2023 U.S. Open, said organizers basically decided to go against 100 years of history. 'It just becomes an exhibition for singles guys; which you know, that's not the worst thing,' Krajicek said. 'Those tournaments have to evolve and then look for ways to sell more tickets and make money, but to call it mixed doubles is not correct.' GO DEEPER The Grand Slam arms race and a global battle for tennis supremacy Tournament organizers have noticed that when well-known men and women team up to play doubles together — even for hit-and-giggle exhibition events — fans pack the stadiums. They show up for the 'Tiebreak Tens' charity competition at the BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, Calif. each March. And they certainly show up for doubles when an Olympic medal is on the line. In a statement released by the USTA, Tim Bunnell, senior vice president of programming and acquisitions for leading U.S. broadcaster ESPN, called the mixed doubles tournament 'an ideal fit.' ESPN's networks will televise the event this summer, attempting to use it to build momentum for the singles main draw during an otherwise dead time of the American sports calendar in the third week of August. Advertisement Ken Solomon, who ran Tennis Channel for two decades until last year, said Monday that when that network started showing wall-to-wall coverage of qualifying week with the bells and whistles of a studio show and expert analysis, the audiences were comparable to those for ATP and WTA 1,000 tour events. 'The dual-gender star matchups actually really rate well and are very, very marketable,' Solomon wrote in a text message. 'Fans LOVE doubles, and when stars play the ratings take off.' In other words, Sherr just has to convince the right people to show up. He's hoping that won't be too hard a sell, and that, before long, he won't just have a tentpole but a full-on colony in a third Grand Slam week, that henceforth may be known as the U.S. Open's first week of three. Solomon's comments, though, forecast the next battle for this new frontier. A week of Grand Slam tennis with the pull of a 1,000-level tour event is a black hole for any smaller ATP or WTA event that happens to be going on at the same time. At some point, the men's and women's tours are likely to push back against this encroachment, perhaps by offering more lucrative events ahead of the Grand Slams to ward off the big guns' calendar imperialism. For example, the ATP has long been working toward a new top-level tournament in Saudi Arabia ahead of the Australian Open each January, against which the four majors previously entrenched themselves. Every action in tennis usually has an equal and opposite reaction.
