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BBC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Why female tennis players are returning to Queen's after half a century
There are several reasons why female players will return to Queen's for the first time in 52 years, including an ongoing commitment to the growth of women's tennis, and the success of an event at Lawn Tennis Association - the sport's governing body in Britain - hopes the tournament will raise the profile of the women's game and increase the visibility of the sport at the beginning of the grass-court season."This year fans will be able to enjoy both men's and women's tennis on the biggest stages that we can offer," said LTA chief executive Scott Lloyd."We want to develop the tournaments so that the women's events deliver a path to profitability and greater visibility for the sport."Queen's will host the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) 500 event that was previously at Eastbourne, which will now stage a 250 event in the build-up to Wimbledon, with Emma Raducanu on the entry list."Essentially, in 1974 the LTA decided to move the women's event at Queen's to Eastbourne," Queen's tournament director Laura Robson told BBC Sport. "It did extremely well and eventually became a combined event in one week. At Queens, logistically it wasn't possible. However, we can now create a two-week festival of tennis, which we know the fans want. This model is popular at other tour events when you can't combine simultaneously."Montreal/Toronto is probably the best example of having a combined event that's across different cities."The WTA Tour includes 250, 500 and 1000-level events - the categories denoting the number of ranking points awarded to the champion. Grand Slams award 2,000 points to the winner. Why have female players been absent from Queen's? Both men's and women's tournaments were held at Queen's under the name the London Grass Court Championship until women's tournament was then discontinued, and the men's event was not held at the venue from returned in 1977 as the Queen's Club draw has since grown from 32 players to 64, while the women's event found a new home in summer, however, there will be a new women's singles champion at Queen's for the first time since Olga Morozova won in 1973. What else has been said? Male players have raised concerns about the quality of grass they will compete on after the women's tournament ends, and also there being fewer courts available for those who arrive early to women's tournament will take place from 9-15 June, with the men's event following from 16-22 LTA has agreed to undertake a review after this year's has voluntarily increased the standard prize money for the women's event to £1.043m. With minimum prize money levels set by the tours, the men's event will offer a total prize fund of £ LTA has pledged to introduce equal prize money at the grass-court tournaments at Queen's and Eastbourne no later than 2029. Which women are playing at Queen's? The tournament will feature a strong line-up, with 10 of the world's top 20 in action. Rebecca Sramkova replaced world number three Jessica Pegula on Zheng (China)Madison Keys (US)Emma Navarro (US)Elena Rybakina (Kaz)Diana Shnaider*Karolina Muchova (Cze)Barbora Krejcikova (Cze) Amanda Anisimova (US)Daria Kasatkina (Aus)Donna Vekic (Cro) Beatriz Haddad Maia (Bra)Magdalena Frech (Pol) Leylah Fernandez (Can)Anna Kalinskaya*Yulia Putintseva (Kaz)Katie Boulter (GB)Emma Raducanu (GB) Rebecca Sramkova (Svk)Petra Kvitova (Cze)* Russian players currently compete as neutral athletes This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team. What is Ask Me Anything? Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio. More questions answered... When does the tennis grass court season begin?Why does French Open not have electronic line calling?Who was Roland Garros?
Metro
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Metro
How to watch French Open 2025: TV channel and live stream from the UK
The 2025 French Open gets underway on Sunday – here's everything you need to know about how to watch and live stream all the action in the UK. The Grand Slam tennis tournament is being shown live on a new TV channel for 2025, having previously been broadcast on Eurosport. There area number of British stars in action at Roland-Garros – including Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu – who discovered their first-round opponents on Thursday. Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek are hoping to defend their respective crowns in the men's singles and women's singles while Novak Djokovic is aiming to bounce back and land a historic 25th major title. You can watch and live stream the 2025 French Open live on TNT Sports and discovery+ in the United Kingdom. Roland-Garros was previously shown on Eurosport before TNT Sports absorbed their live television rights in the UK and Republic of Ireland. TNT Sports offers four linear TV channels – TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports 2, TNT Sports 3, and TNT Sports 4. TNT Sports 4 will be the new home of Roland-Garros with wall-to-wall coverage alongside TNT Sports 1 which will show the biggest matches – with live coverage of every match available to stream on discovery+. On Sky Stream, the channels you need are 416 for TNT Sports 4 and 413 for TNT Sports 1. Click here for details of how you can sign up for their service to watch the event. Live on-court action begins across all platforms each day from 10am. Viewers in the UK and Ireland will benefit from a 30-minute pre-match show from 9.30am – hosted in week one by Laura Robson and Craig Doyle in week two. Rachel Stringer will host TNT Sports UK's afternoon and evening shows airing before the night session with former British No.1 Tim Henman supplying his analysis and insights throughout the tournament. Live shows will air before all eleven night sessions, with play beginning from around 7.30pm BST. Throughout the tournament, guests from TNT Sports' roster of tennis experts – which boasts 99 Grand Slam singles and doubles titles – will appear across the coverage in various forms. More Trending This includes Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Darren Cahill, Alex Corretja, Jim Courier, Lindsay Davenport, Chris Eubanks, Chris Evert and Tim Henman. It also includes John McEnroe, Patrick McEnroe, Sam Querrey, Laura Robson, Sloane Stephens, CoCo Vandeweghe, Mats Wilander and Caroline Wozniacki. The 2025 French Open gets underway on Sunday, May 25 and concludes on Sunday, June 8. MORE: French Open 2025 full schedule: Order of play, dates, prize money and wildcards MORE: French Open 2025 odds: Carlos Alcaraz can fend off Jannik Sinner to successfully defend his Roland Garros crown MORE: Kevin De Bruyne can savour Manchester City send-off with goal against Bournemouth
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Robson 'honoured' to bring women's game back to Queen's
Former British number one Laura Robson says it is a "huge honour" to welcome women's professional tennis back to Queen's for the first time in more than 50 years. The iconic London venue will host a women's tournament for the first time since 1973 in the lead up to Wimbledon this year. Australian Open champion Madison Keys, four-time major winner Naomi Osaka, current British number one Katie Boulter and 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu have all been confirmed to play in the June event. Reigning Eastbourne champion Daria Kasatkina is the fifth name to have been revealed on Tuesday, with more to come in the future. Robson, who reached a career high ranking of 27 in 2013 and retired in 2022, has been appointed tournament director. "I first remember coming to Queen's as a 10-year-old and watching the men's event, so now to have women's tennis back in London for the first time in 50 years and have the line-up that we do, it's a massive honour and I can't wait to get it going," Robson told BBC Sport. Boulter and Raducanu headline historic Queen's return Murray to continue as Djokovic's coach 'indefinitely' The women's event at Queen's ceased in 1973, with the Eastbourne tournament founded the following year and becoming a fixture of the women's grass court season. The revived Queen's will run as a WTA 500 tournament and as part of a two-week event with the traditional men's competition. Unlike Wimbledon, which has awarded prize money equally between its men's and women's draws since 2007, the men's tournament will have a substantially higher prize pot of $2.5m (£2.1m), than the $1.1m (£0.9m) available to the women. This is set by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tours and applies to all their 500 level events. "The LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) definitely would love to hit that marker well before the WTA Tour but to do that we need a successful event, we need people to come and watch and to get excited about it," Robson, who has also worked as tournament director at Nottingham, said. "It doesn't start at all or nothing. We have to build the way that the tournament's run and eventually get to that marker of equal prize money but it's something I'm all for as a former player." Former Wimbledon girls' champion Robson hopes the tournament will give the sport an opportunity to reach new audiences, with tickets to the women's event priced cheaper than those for the men's. "The chance to have a women's event in London, new faces coming in, new audiences, new commercial opportunities, hopefully it gets a huge reach and grows the women's game even more and we begin that history that the men's event has," she said. Robson added part of her role as tournament director had been to use her relationships with the players to get them on board, and those already committed "had not needed much convincing". "The players are excited about this event, the LTA are excited and the club is as well," she added. "In my mind it's certainly something that can build year on year and we see it hopefully being as prestigious as the men's event in the history that it has and what we can bring to the women's game." Live scores, results and order of play Get tennis news sent straight to your phone
BBC News
18-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Robson 'honoured' to bring women's game back to Queen's
Former British number one Laura Robson says it is a "huge honour" to welcome women's professional tennis back to Queen's for the first time in more than 50 iconic London venue will host a women's tournament for the first time since 1973 in the lead up to Wimbledon this Open champion Madison Keys, four-time major winner Naomi Osaka, current British number one Katie Boulter and 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu have all been confirmed to play in the June Eastbourne champion Daria Kasatkina is the fifth name to have been revealed on Tuesday, with more to come in the who reached a career high ranking of 27 in 2013 and retired in 2022, has been appointed tournament director."I first remember coming to Queen's as a 10-year-old and watching the men's event, so now to have women's tennis back in London for the first time in 50 years and have the line-up that we do, it's a massive honour and I can't wait to get it going," Robson told BBC Sport. The women's event at Queen's ceased in 1973, with the Eastbourne tournament founded the following year and becoming a fixture of the women's grass court revived Queen's will run as a WTA 500 tournament and as part of a two-week event with the traditional men's Wimbledon, which has awarded prize money equally between its men's and women's draws since 2007, the men's tournament will have a substantially higher prize pot of $2.5m (£2.1m), than the $1.1m (£0.9m) available to the is set by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tours and applies to all their 500 level events."The LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) definitely would love to hit that marker well before the WTA Tour but to do that we need a successful event, we need people to come and watch and to get excited about it," Robson, who has also worked as tournament director at Nottingham, said."It doesn't start at all or nothing. We have to build the way that the tournament's run and eventually and get to that marker of equal prize money but it's something I'm all for as a former player." 'Hopefully it can become as prestigious as men's event' Former Wimbledon girls' champion Robson hopes the tournament will give the sport an opportunity to reach new audiences, with tickets to the women's event priced cheaper than those for the men's."The chance to have a women's event in London, new faces coming in, new audiences, new commercial opportunities, hopefully it gets a huge reach and grows the women's game even more and we begin that history that the men's event has," she added part of her role as tournament director had been to use her relationships with the players to get them on board, and those already committed "had not needed much convincing"."The players are excited about this event, the LTA are excited and the club is as well," she added."In my mind it's certainly something that can build year on year and we see it hopefully being as prestigious as the men's event in the history that it has and what we can bring to the women's game."
