Week 24 - ATP 500 (Queen's) - London, UK - Grass

RJA · Hall of fame

RE: Week 24 - ATP 500 (Queen's) - London, UK - Grass

RJA · Hall of fame

goldfish wrote:
Completely cheesed off - as tickets are so expensive and we have often been left standing in the rain in previous years, we opted for ground tickets this year. What can we see? One doubles match at 12.30 on court 9, nothing on court 2. That's not really worth the train fare. Guess it was naive of me not to realise how few matches there would be this year.

So you have been charged £20 to watch one 1st round doubles match and the lucrative opportunity to watch players practice. That is absolutely disgraceful and I imagine that many other people will have been caught out assuming that a ground pass was still worth purchasing.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

RJA wrote:
goldfish wrote:
Completely cheesed off - as tickets are so expensive and we have often been left standing in the rain in previous years, we opted for ground tickets this year. What can we see? One doubles match at 12.30 on court 9, nothing on court 2. That's not really worth the train fare. Guess it was naive of me not to realise how few matches there would be this year.
So you have been charged £20 to watch one 1st round doubles match and the lucrative opportunity to watch players practice. That is absolutely disgraceful and I imagine that many other people will have been caught out assuming that a ground pass was still worth purchasing.

Would that have been allowed if Chris Kermode or even Ross Hutchins had still been in charge, I wonder? hmm

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Completely agree with all the above comments. It's a disgrace, unnecessary and shows a lack of direction.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I assumed that the reduction to a 32 draw was because the prize money for a 500 is greater than a 250, so if they have no more money than before, they have to apportion it between fewer players.

goldenboy · Club Coach

its pretty much centre court or nothing this week. guaranteed seeing a number of the stars on centre given the strength of the draw, but less to get excited about for a year-round british tennis fan:

- only one british WC (though would have been one more of course)
- only 1 british entrant into qualifiers
- complete lack of matches on outside courts - 1 doubles match all day is pathetic!
- no chance of turning up at 5pm (as I have in the past) and seeing some quality tennis after work!

most of the above isn;t the tournament's fault. with the ATP500 in Halle at the same time they probably wouldnt have been allowed a 48 draw. but it is disappointing, and a shame not happening on outside courts.

of course the public as a whole will be oblivious, and will be happy watching more big names on TV! and I guess the sponsors will be happy too as a result.

goldfish · Futures qualifying

I will certainly be putting my views to the TD. I imagine it will take me longer to get there than I'll spend watching tennis but at least they've given us Jamie and John.

A131 · Intermediate Club Player

Didn't realize the size of the draw had been reduced as much as it has been and having looked at the price of the tickets all I have to say is bee bah bee bee bah bah bah - in otherwords Good Lord!

Jan · Hall of fame

Although I did one year have a ticket for Ct 1, in the last few years I've opted for a day's ground pass, usually on the Tuesday. There were always some cracking matches on the non-ticketed courts, well into the evening - well worth the cost of the pass. As I'm going to the DC, I'd decided not to go this time, and having read all these comments, I'm pleased I didn't plan to go. Queens was always so much easier than Wimby for a ground pass, but I will definitely think twice about it in the future. cry

savva0122 · Intermediate Club Player

It's a bit of as stinker.
I guess because 2 concurrent 500's the draw size had to be reduced.

RJA · Hall of fame

savva0122 wrote:
It's a bit of as stinker.
I guess because 2 concurrent 500's the draw size had to be reduced.

I genuinely don't see why. Halle and Queen's existed as concurrent 250's for many years with different size draws. There is also nothing in the rules that requires tournaments to get permission to have a draw size greater than 32.

My assumption is that it was done to minimise the amount of extra prize money they are having to pay out as an ATP 500.

Jaffa · Challenger level

Can't please all people, I think it's better that they attract better players myself.

EddietheEagle · County player

They are restricted by the huge amount of appearance money they pay for the 'stars' to turn up - the amounts you never get to hear or know about but which largely determine a player's decision to play one tournament or another.

A131 · Intermediate Club Player

My God - James Ward's shirt! Reminds me of some old wallpaper that was hanging in my bedroom when I was much younger.

RJA · Hall of fame

A131 wrote:
My God - James Ward's shirt! Reminds me of some old wallpaper that was hanging in my bedroom when I was much younger.

Why James? Just why?