Poor organisers. All the Brits and the two most prominent stars out by Tuesday. Yes, JWT tends to be a favourite here; Dimitrov and Lopez have their fans; and there's a story to spin around Kokkinakis' return. But still, charging £105 for today's centre court matches is a stretch, and a minimum £105 for Lopez/Chardy, Medvedev/Kokkinakis, Cilic/Kozlov, and Querrey/Thompson is, for the general tennis-going public, a very large stretch.
That said the ground admission for £30 is actually a reasonably good deal if (and only if) you like doubles ... although the scheduling of Kontinen and Peers opposite Jamie Murray and Soares (presumably to offer more scope for the post-office crowds in the evening to get seats) would be a bit frustrating.
When I go to Madrid, which is technically a higher ranked tournament as an ATP 1000, the ground pass in the early days of the tournament is less than 10 euros and you get a lot of good quality singles on the outside courts.
Yes. Since they've halved the draw size I won't consider buying a ground pass.
Yesterday's schedule was decent enough but I think Monday only had the one singles match (Darcis v Berdych - which wouldn't be high on my list). And doubles doesn't really cut it for me (I'm happy to watch and support if I'm there but I won't pay and plan to go based on doubles).
Well, I'm a fan of doubles. And of Queens as a venue. But (despite what I said above about it being a relatively good deal - which it is compared to the singles prices) I wouldn't pay £30 ... so I'd be fascinated to know if a serious doubles fan wouldn't do it who will be buying their ground admissions tickets.
What makes it particularly silly as an offer is that if you have £30 or so to blow on a day out at the tennis (which I'm aware many don't) and if things go according to the norm, on the 2nd Monday of Wimbledon in a few week's time, you can pay £25 and see an extraordinary range of doubles matches, juniors matches, and even potentially one or two singles matches. And be at Wimbledon. Not exactly a comparison that favours Queens.
Yep. I think it's fair to say Queen's is a bit of a rip off. Very much one for the corporates. Compare it to something like the Nottingham Open as well (which I actually prefer now with it being a mixed event as you get to see some top level women plus plenty of British male WCs) - I went last Tuesday, nice centre court seat and could walk freely around the outside courts and saw Konta, Watson, Norrie, Klein and a few other good matches for less than £20.
Denis pushed berdych hard today but no be. Only 3 seeds left in the 12 players . Sometimes we get these years at Wimbledon and Queens when outsiders get through to the final. I'm thinking Becker v kriek and ferreira v matsuoka at Queens or Becker v curren and krajicek v Washington at Wimbledon. Feels like this could be one of those years where aanyone can put a run together and go far.
Ps I forgot draper beating tieleman in 1998 final as the most classic "who are they " final at Queens
-- Edited by JonH on Wednesday 21st of June 2017 08:28:10 PM
-- Edited by JonH on Thursday 22nd of June 2017 06:48:15 AM