Queens

seagull · Hall of fame

Queens

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

You're a star, seagull

Blue_Belle · Club Coach

This is positive and follows what some tournaments already do

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Can I take credit after all the emails with Cinch last year ?

Jan · Hall of fame

Ticket bought for the Saturday smile

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Seemingly, the decision to broaden Queens to also make it a women's tournament "has sparked fury from a group of members, who are reportedly planning legal action to stop it from going ahead". One Board members has resigned, as have a bunch of members.

Reading more, it seems that the Queens club is pretty toxic overall, re the Board, the members and the Queens tennis event

inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/queens-club-members-plot-legal-action-to-stop-womens-tournament-in-2025-3107232~:text=A%20group%20of%20furious%20Queen's,at%20the%20club%20in%202025.

Even previously, before the decision re women, there were major problems, namely:

"Set-up for the event involves building a 10,000-seater stadium around Centre Court and requires many of the facilities inside the club to be repurposed. i understands the six-week disruption includes:

Converting the gym into a kitchen for hospitality guests
Sauna facilities are closed off and filled with ice baths for players
The main entrance is out of use
No access to clay tennis courts or Padel courts
Mens changing rooms are out of bounds to members throughout the championships
The club found itself having to fight members before last years championships too after reducing the number of guests members would have the opportunity to bring to the tournament. Previously, up to 400 guests passes per day had been issued but in 2023, only 100 were available.

According to The Times, members were also angered by the decision to cut the size of their bar in half during the championships to accommodate more all-day dining customers. At an extraordinary general meeting, members voted against the decision but because of a low turnout, the board chose not to enact it."

The last sentence is rather troublesome.

There was "a fractious meeting last Friday, [where] members were said to have aired grievances for over two hours."

A motion has been passed to force consultation and votes on similar matters going forward

But that won't help re expanding it to women

Which is why they're looking at legal action to see if the constitution was breached

Var · Pro player

Coup Droit wrote:
Seemingly, the decision to broaden Queens to also make it a women's tournament "has sparked fury from a group of members, who are reportedly planning legal action to stop it from going ahead". One Board members has resigned, as have a bunch of members.

Reading more, it seems that the Queens club is pretty toxic overall, re the Board, the members and the Queens tennis event

inews.co.uk/sport/tennis/queens-club-members-plot-legal-action-to-stop-womens-tournament-in-2025-3107232~:text=A%20group%20of%20furious%20Queen's,at%20the%20club%20in%202025.

Even previously, before the decision re women, there were major problems, namely:

"Set-up for the event involves building a 10,000-seater stadium around Centre Court and requires many of the facilities inside the club to be repurposed. i understands the six-week disruption includes:

Converting the gym into a kitchen for hospitality guests
Sauna facilities are closed off and filled with ice baths for players
The main entrance is out of use
No access to clay tennis courts or Padel courts
Mens changing rooms are out of bounds to members throughout the championships
The club found itself having to fight members before last years championships too after reducing the number of guests members would have the opportunity to bring to the tournament. Previously, up to 400 guests passes per day had been issued but in 2023, only 100 were available.

According to The Times, members were also angered by the decision to cut the size of their bar in half during the championships to accommodate more all-day dining customers. At an extraordinary general meeting, members voted against the decision but because of a low turnout, the board chose not to enact it."

The last sentence is rather troublesome.

There was "a fractious meeting last Friday, [where] members were said to have aired grievances for over two hours."

A motion has been passed to force consultation and votes on similar matters going forward

But that won't help re expanding it to women

Which is why they're looking at legal action to see if the constitution was breached

Interesting As Queens centre court has about the same as Eastbourne, why not just leave the WTA event at Eastbourne?

RainDelay · Pro player

The WTA events have history at Eastbourne and Birmingham. I don't get why they are moving there.

Blue_Belle · Club Coach

RainDelay wrote:
The WTA events have history at Eastbourne and Birmingham. I don't get why they are moving there.

I suspect it's money. If they are at Queens the ATP part will prop it up financially. Plus London, more people, yadayada

-- Edited by Blue_Belle on Thursday 13th of June 2024 08:59:40 AM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, I'm guessing it's something about sponsorship - maybe managing to 'bribe' Cinch into coughing up more ?

When I asked one of the LTA bods why they were cancelling Surbiton, they said it was because having both Queens and Surbiton made it a little 'top-heavy'

'Top-heavy' in London? In rankings?

Seems SO short-sighted to me

I did suggest to him that the solution, if Queens was a keeper, was to downgrade Surbiton to a W50, as it used to be, and why were there no ITF grass events for lower ranked players? But they just smiled and shrugged....

Blue_Belle · Club Coach

Coup Droit wrote:
Yes, I'm guessing it's something about sponsorship - maybe managing to 'bribe' Cinch into coughing up more ?

When I asked one of the LTA bods why they were cancelling Surbiton, they said it was because having both Queens and Surbiton made it a little 'top-heavy'

'Top-heavy' in London? In rankings?

Seems SO short-sighted to me

I did suggest to him that the solution, if Queens was a keeper, was to downgrade Surbiton to a W50, as it used to be, and why were there no ITF grass events for lower ranked players? But they just smiled and shrugged....

Clear idiots!

Madadman · Masters Series Champion

When speaking to a member at Surbiton they did allude to Queens maybe not happening as currently planned due to members blocking it. Seems a right mess.
Id also be interested to see how the grass holds up at Queens, centre court towards the end of week 2 might be quite worn.

seagull · Hall of fame

Also cant see many top players turning up the week after the French. In a way that might be beneficial to our players I suppose

simon381 · Lower Club Player

I had a chat with people (members rather than management I suspect) at Surbiton when I was there and there seem to be issues there too with the membership and in particular the Padel community who want to expand. I talked to them about downgrading to a W50 as it used to be but there was a thought that a break entirely might be preferred.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

simon381 wrote:
I had a chat with people (members rather than management I suspect) at Surbiton when I was there and there seem to be issues there too with the membership and in particular the Padel community who want to expand. I talked to them about downgrading to a W50 as it used to be but there was a thought that a break entirely might be preferred.

Funny, I had a very similar chat with a couple on the committee there biggrin

Seemingly, the old timers don't like the new Padel lot very much, and think that because the tennis lot are more numerous, therefore they're more important and bring in more money

But, financially, the money is all down to bar usage - and the Padel community are rather free and easy at the bar biggrin

But big problems also with the bar due to staffing shortages post-Brexit

Problems agreeing about which new courts to build?

The guys I talked to, though, were quite sad to see the event go

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Thursday 13th of June 2024 11:42:40 AM