There are several reasons why female players will return to the Queen for the first time in 52 years, including the ongoing commitment to women’s tennis growth and the success of the event held in Eastbourne.
The Lawn Tennis Association – the sport’s governing body in the UK – hopes that the competition will improve the image of the women’s competition and increase visibility of the sports at the beginning of the grass season.
“Fans of this year will be able to enjoy men’s and women’s tennis at the biggest stage we can offer,” said LTA CEO Scott Lloyd.
“We want to develop competitions so that women’s events can bring profitability and greater visibility to the sport.”
Queens will host the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 500 event previously held in Eastbourne, which will now hold 250 events in 250 events in Wimbledon, while Emma Raducanu is on the entry list.
“Essentially, the LTA decided to move the women’s event to Eastbourne in 1974,” Laura Robson, director of the Queens Championship, told the BBC Sport.
“It did a really good job and ended up being a merged event in one week. In Queens, it was logically impossible. However, we can now create a two-week tennis festival that we know what fans want. This kind of model is popular on other tours when you can’t combine at the same time.
“Montreal/Toronto may be the best example of a merger activity between different cities.”
The WTA Tour consists of 250, 500 and 1000 activities – a category that represents the ranking points awarded by the champion. The Grand Slam awards the winner 2,000 points.
