The LTA

the addict · Tennis legend

The LTA

paulisi · Tennis legend

I did try and find out, but Richard Joyner had to deal with somebody halfway through the answer.
Grass court UK schedule remains unchanged. There are changes to ITF
Glasgow joint event followed by Loughborough joint and then Shrewsbury men's. That's as far as I got.
Wirral oct/Nov.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Born2WinTennis wrote:
What's the minimum amount of courts required to host a futures event? Or are there any other type of restrictions/demands from the ITF that determine which venues are eligible to host one? I wonder what the futures circuit in GB would look like if it was in the hands of private business, i.e. to make a profit. Rather than hugely subsidised by the LTA. If they all made a profit it would be a no-brainer for the LTA to host more. One way to do that would be to run a large number of lower level events at the same time as the futures to bring in more entry fees. I have considered hiring the 25 courts at Queenswood for a massive recreational level tournament, but at up-to £1000/day for hire, it's a big risk.

I looked up the venues in 2013 and also added in the other venues from the 2017 British Tour to give an idea of which venues might be not playing ball with the LTA.

Glasgow still happening

Preston - not played for a while, not sure why, but private club and probably want too much compo

Wirral - ongoing. Cheap and council run.

Shrewsbury - private club.still ongoing. Keen to carry on, well supported and recoup money from restaurant.

Sunderland ongoing.

Wrexham wasn't particularly spectator friendly

Manchester SC lacked catering facilities and there were moans about court conditions.

Not sure on the rest. Private clubs have to look after their members, so bigger financial risk losing a venue for a week.

Born2WinTennis · Club Coach

There are around 400 tennis venues with over 10 courts in this country, and 60 with 20 or more, so for those that are private clubs, I can't imagine loosing 4 courts for a week, especially mainly during the day midweek, would be too much of a hardship. Notable venues could include: Hurlingham, St George's Hill, Lensbury, Riverside Chiswick, DL Bushey, DL Raynes Park, DL Bristol, Gosling etc.

I had a look at the ITF regulations though and it seems quite arduous, over and above providing the prize money, there are lots of other costs, including an on-site doctor and physio, the ITF supervisor fees, the chair umpires, the tournament director fees, all the balls, transport from the hotel, meals on site, players lounge with fruit and drinks, restaurant on-site with the correct type of food. At a guess I would estimate the whole cost at at least £25k for a $15k tournament.

EddietheEagle · County player

Born2WinTennis wrote:
There are around 400 tennis venues with over 10 courts in this country, and 60 with 20 or more, so for those that are private clubs, I can't imagine loosing 4 courts for a week, especially mainly during the day midweek, would be too much of a hardship. Notable venues could include: Hurlingham, St George's Hill, Lensbury, Riverside Chiswick, DL Bushey, DL Raynes Park, DL Bristol, Gosling etc.

I had a look at the ITF regulations though and it seems quite arduous, over and above providing the prize money, there are lots of other costs, including an on-site doctor and physio, the ITF supervisor fees, the chair umpires, the tournament director fees, all the balls, transport from the hotel, meals on site, players lounge with fruit and drinks, restaurant on-site with the correct type of food. At a guess I would estimate the whole cost at at least £25k for a $15k tournament.

There are plenty of insightful foreign language articles on what's involved in putting on futures. Italy is a good source seeing that they run more there (or did before the financial crisis) than any other country bar the U.S. Basically it largely comes down to people like yourself acting on their own initiative and with the freedom to do so. There are lots more of those tennis-loving, entrepreneurial-type individuals in other countries because they don't have an overarching monolith of a national federation that, nanny-like, wants to stick its fingers in just about every aspect of the pie you can think of.

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Born2WinTennis wrote:
The incoming LTA chief exec comes from an organisation which currently does not provide any of the venues for current Futures or British Tour events, even though they are arguably some of the best facilities in the country. I'm not sure his current organisation, despite being the largest tennis club in the UK, really do much to benefit the sport as a whole.

But it does host LOTS of lower grade junior events all over the country

Born2WinTennis · Club Coach

Yes a quick look seems to be about 15% of all upcoming junior boys competitions on the LTA website. I wasn't aware of all of these, they certainly didn't happen at the one I was a member of. They seem to offer these via a 3rd party though, it's not internally managed. Presumably they just come to some arrangement on court hire costs.

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

The County Offices arrange them and provide the referees. Don't know if they pay for court hire. Often players from the home club enter so you would think even if the LTA pays there would be some sort of deal. These events happen across all ages from 9&U to 18&U and at several different levels.

skibbarriz · Strong Club Player

So there is universal consensus here that putting on lots of Futures will be a big help?

I think the main point is the LTA hasn't got an understanding and a vision. If they put on lot's of Future's they'd still do it in the wrong way. Not promoting the tournaments and generally feeling unenthused with events held outside the grass season. Most British tennis tournaments outside the summer effectively operate in secret as far as the general public are concerned. If you asked people how many tournaments are held, in which locations, and what at what levels, they wouldn't have a clue.

If Britain has a new increased Futures schedule that runs solid for the next 20 years, then that can potentially have a positive impact. If it runs for 2-3 years only, then it won't make a difference to anything. Same for if they if they tune the schedule up and down depending whether they think they have the players that warrant putting tournaments on. Thats' not the way to do it.

They need to build the footprint of the sport in this country. American and Spanish tournament directors care about making it a fan friendly and community experience. The LTA operate their tournaments in an anonymous way, because they only care about providing playing time and ranking, rather than bringing a tennis event to a local community. They exercise insular thinking. Tennis is going to remain a secret sport in this country for most of the year until the LTA care to do something about it.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

No, skib, I don't think that putting on a huge number of futures is the right step - after all, we had that five, or ten, years ago, say, and it hardly helped produce a new generation of top 200 players. If only....

(But I do think that we have too few as it stands).

The problem is that there is no connection between the LTA and the clubs. They are not part of the same team, there's no real symbiotic relationship. However, we've thrashed this through over and over before ......

paulisi · Tennis legend

Multiple ITF futures will not be beneficial, look at Egypt or Turkey - same players every week, weak tournaments, false rankings.

All we ask is that we have just a few more - a set Jan/Feb, a set Apr/May, some grass after Wimbledon?, Aug-Sept and Oct/Nov - 4x3 plus 2 weeks grass for men and women please. Maybe even tag the 3rd as a 25k??

indiana · Tennis legend

It's called a happy medium ! And would certainly assist many lower ranked / unranked aspiring players. Some proactivity please LTA rather than just blaming the clubs ( your member clubs are they not ).

It seems so clear to so many players, coaches, followers that it's beginning to look like the height of pigheaded stubborness from the LTA.

Evidence of ranking depth and more of a safety net might encourage aspiring players at least as much as what the elite Brits are doing. It seems very skewed priorities.

-- Edited by indiana on Sunday 29th of October 2017 07:51:16 PM

Etienne · Club Coach

Have the LTA got someone in line to replace Aegon, as apparently they aren't continuing their sponsorship after this year?

paulisi · Tennis legend

Etienne wrote:
Have the LTA got someone in line to replace Aegon, as apparently they aren't continuing their sponsorship after this year?

They were planning to get individual sponsors for some of the grass tournaments - Queens should be straight forward. Not heard any announcements yet, but with the LTA's lack of communication skills that doesn't surprise me.

indiana · Tennis legend

At least with say the lower level pro tournaments the LTA can point to how they produce well promoted festivals of tennis encouraging spectators to flock to such events so a potential sponsor can expect great recognition - or not.