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TENNIS

The WTA announces return to Queen’s Club for first time in over half a century

Women’s tennis will return to the Queen’s Club for the first time in over 50 years, replacing Eastbourne on the 2025 WTA calendar.

Jeffrey May
Jeffrey MayJeff_DiarioAS
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The WTA announces return to Queen’s Club for first time in over half a century

The grass-court season will see a reshuffle in 2025 that will both give and take away as WTA tennis will return to Queen’s for the first time in more than a half century at the expense of Eastbourne.

The Queen’s club first organized a tennis tournament for both men and women in 1881. The men’s tournament has continued unbroken while the women’s event was discontinued in 1973. The Lawn Tennis Association announced a shakeup to the schedule from next year, demoting Eastbourne to a 250 event while resurrecting Queen’s as a WTA500 event.

The end of the French Open is traditionally the start of the grass court season and in the run up to Wimbledon, Queen’s has hosted the most prestigious of the men’s grass court warm ups, while Eastbourne hosted the women’s. Next year, those tournaments will be brought under one roof as the women’s event at Queen’s will be held the week of June 9 and the men’s event the week of June 16.

Logistics will play a part in this change, since Queen’s has only two courts with seating for spectators, plus 28 smaller practice courts. Wimbledon, by comparison, has 19 competitive courts in addition to 24 practice courts.

Chris Evert, winner of 18 Grand Slams, and Margaret Court, who won 24 Grand Slams during her career and is the most awarded in history, appear among the list of champions at Queen’s.

Other changes to the WTA 2025 calendar

“The 2025 calendar provides a clear and exciting narrative for our billion fans around the world to follow this incredible sport,” said Steve Simon, President and CEO of the WTA. “We strive to create the best possible experience for everyone involved in women’s tennis, and from our first tournaments in Australia to the WTA Finals Riyadh, it’s going to be another captivating season at the Hologic WTA Tour in 2025.”

The main changes are:

  • The traditional start of the grass court season at Surbiton will end as the Birmingham Classic at Edgbaston is downgraded to replace it.
  • WTA 250 Nottingham moves a week later, to the second week of the grass court season to the week of June 16.
  • The WTA 500 in Bad Homburg (Germany) remains in the third week of the grass court season, along with Eastbourne.
  • The National Bank Open presented by Rogers (Montreal) WTA 1000 events and the Cincinnati Open will expand to become 12-day tournaments, taking place over three weeks in the summer.

2025 is 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 world.

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