Jan wrote:

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I'm being tempted by Surbiton!! It would be the only live tennis I get to see this year.
They have ground passes available. Please can anyone fill me in - is there seating if you only have a ground pass?

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 Not really.

i.e. there are some picnic benches by a couple of the courts. And some plastic chairs put out. But all very spotty and ad hoc. Some people take their own little fold-up chairs. There is grass you can sit on (although then you're a bit low and can't see quite so well). The court near the restaurant/café is the best one if you want/need seats because there are lots of chairs there for outside eating. And you get a decent view of the nearest court. 

In short, if your health really needs a chair, there's no guarantees unless you take your own. If - like me - you can stand but like to sit and you're happy to watch most matches, then you're pretty likely to get a seat if you move fast when someone leaves, or if you're cheeky and nick a seat from the café area, say. 

I am going on Wednesday and Thursday but did buy a seat on each day for the main court. I havent been since, I think the 1980s but it is all a bit of a distant haze! Anyone know what the parking is like as I am deliberating on my best plan for the 2 days. Considering staying in a local premier inn on the Wednesday night as I live 30 miles outside London and the travel to and fro isnt particularly easy.

Lambda wrote:

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TV coverage announced

Surbiton (men and women) BBC Digital
Nottingham (women) Amazon and BBC Digital
Nottingham (men) BBC Digital
Birmingham Amazon and BBC
Queens Amazon and BBC
Eastbourne BBC (women) and Amazon (men and women)

-- Edited by Lambda on Friday 27th of May 2022 07:30:23 PM

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This is really good. Us hard core fans will have multiple match choice on Prime but also on free to air.

The only bad event will be Wimbledon qualies which normally is just one court shown and they don't even put many Brits on it. 

Lambda wrote:

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wolf wrote:

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Lambda wrote:

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TV coverage announced

Surbiton (men and women) BBC Digital
Nottingham (women) Amazon and BBC Digital
Nottingham (men) BBC Digital
Birmingham Amazon and BBC
Queens Amazon and BBC
Eastbourne BBC (women) and Amazon (men and women)

-- Edited by Lambda on Friday 27th of May 2022 07:30:23 PM

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This is really good. Us hard core fans will have multiple match choice on Prime but also on free to air.

The only bad event will be Wimbledon qualies which normally is just one court shown and they don't even put many Brits on it. 

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Now the AELTC own the lease to the former Bank of England Sports Ground (and given it the snappy name of Wimbledon Qualifying and Community Sports Centre, Roehampton) perhaps they'll make changes that will enable more than one court to be televised. Their plans on taking over the lease were to improve the qualifying competition, although what they meant by that I don't know.

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 With some decent PR they could do so much with the whole qualifying play offs, qualifying itself story and narrative . I talked about it last year , there are players with stories that can be showcased. A Road to the Final type narrative could be held, the player who beat the player who beat the player from the lowest Brit entered up to the champ etc etc. 

just needs vision and social media. Someone From the likes of Banijay or DAZN should get in touch 

Coup Droit wrote:

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Jan wrote:

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Coup Droit wrote:

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Jan wrote:

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I'm being tempted by Surbiton!! It would be the only live tennis I get to see this year.
They have ground passes available. Please can anyone fill me in - is there seating if you only have a ground pass?

---

 Not really.

i.e. there are some picnic benches by a couple of the courts. And some plastic chairs put out. But all very spotty and ad hoc. Some people take their own little fold-up chairs. There is grass you can sit on (although then you're a bit low and can't see quite so well). The court near the restaurant/café is the best one if you want/need seats because there are lots of chairs there for outside eating. And you get a decent view of the nearest court. 

In short, if your health really needs a chair, there's no guarantees unless you take your own. If - like me - you can stand but like to sit and you're happy to watch most matches, then you're pretty likely to get a seat if you move fast when someone leaves, or if you're cheeky and nick a seat from the café area, say. 

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Thanks CD that's really helpful. I shall ponder!!

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 Just to add though, if the weather's nice and it's not too far for you, Surbiton is definitely the event (IMO) to take a gamble on, even if you're not sure about seats. There's a really nice atmosphere, you're close to everyone, the fact that it's men and women, the staff/volunteers are very friendly, the café is good...... And it's effectively £12 a ticket as of Monday (utterly ridiculous to say £9 per ticket plus £3 handling charge for EACH ticket, might as well just call it £12 and be done with it), and free on Sunday, so not THAT expensive -  

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 Thanks for the extra info, I'm definitely not discounting it!

dodrade wrote:

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Lambda wrote:

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TV coverage announced

Surbiton (men and women) BBC Digital
Nottingham (women) Amazon and BBC Digital
Nottingham (men) BBC Digital
Birmingham Amazon and BBC
Queens Amazon and BBC
Eastbourne BBC (women) and Amazon (men and women)

-- Edited by Lambda on Friday 27th of May 2022 07:30:23 PM

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 Anyone covering Ilkley?

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 I know its disappointing ! 

its impossible to find records but around the early 80s a local sponsor pumped big money into Ilkley. The final that year was Peter McNamara versus Vijay Amritraj. Get that. BBC Look North showed highlights of it - noting in those days we had only 4 channels, it had massive coverage !