British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

emmsie69 · Grand Slam Champion

Entry Week 42 - 19/10/2026

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

dodrade wrote:
the addict wrote:
JonH wrote:
I like the idea of the one shot slam though, and think that is something to charge for, it would be decent entertainment. Qualies nope; not at this level or challenger level.
Dani Britton beat Eliz Maloney to take the £1000 prize + expenses paid trip to Australia.
Wouldn't Dani have been going to Melbourne for the Junior Australian Open anyway?

Yes, but the £1,000 will be nice smile

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

emmsie69 wrote:
Randomly picked Welling Utd as an example. Their gate prices are £15 for a match.
I agree qualifying should be free, a nominal couple of quid or a price that includes some form of refreshment.
I don't know the venue but a lot of Schools are on half term, there are so many things these venues could do to encourage spectators by packaging up a group of activities. very few children are going to watch Tennis all day but these venues could still make it a days entertainment with a bit of thought (and enough space)
ETA So one idea would be to run a 1 point slam at the same time as the main competitors are playing theirs and the winner gets to play the winner of the pro touwanrnament (but that's their prize, not the trip to Oz)
ETA again I've looked at the facility and there is so much they could have done. They have outdoor courts plus covered Padel courts and Pickleball. They could have incorporated a try racket sports event with the ticket price.
There might a CoL crisis but that doesn't mean people don't have money to spend, it's all about value.

Yes

As you say, there are lots of things you can do to get people / families along

And then you need to really publicise it

Try-outs are a good idea

Children also love speed guns - the club borrows a speed gun, sets it up and basically kids mess around trying to whack the ball as hard as they can

Instagram / social media opportunities are also easy - If you have a big cardboard cutout of two tennis racets, with a ball in the middle, with a cut-out hole, and the person puts their face through the hole, it makes a great photo, that then gets circulated, and others come to do the same

Having some of the old bods down for a meet and greet may also work well for the older lot - Andrew Castle can be very charming, as can Annabel Croft smile - would they come along? Or anyone else I can't think of but used to play 40 years back? This is a W100, when all's said and done - GB's biggest indoor tournament of the year

emmsie69 · Grand Slam Champion

We need to be running the LTA project to get kids playing (and adults)
tbh a lot of sports could be doing stuff like this.
Totally agree with meet and greets. A lot of players and former players have benefitted from funding from the LTA, Personally I'd be expecting those ones to step up and earn their keep in a variety of ways.
I've always thought that more current players should be at Wimbledon qualifying spending a bit of time at the mini courts if they're not in any competitions. 30 mins hitting with a few kids at Roehampton isn't too much to ask imo.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

emmsie69 wrote:
We need to be running the LTA project to get kids playing (and adults)
tbh a lot of sports could be doing stuff like this.
Totally agree with meet and greets. A lot of players and former players have benefitted from funding from the LTA, Personally I'd be expecting those ones to step up and earn their keep in a variety of ways.
I've always thought that more current players should be at Wimbledon qualifying spending a bit of time at the mini courts if they're not in any competitions. 30 mins hitting with a few kids at Roehampton isn't too much to ask imo.

Yes

I was reading yesterday that, in the US (as everywhere) there's a real shortage of volunteers to referee junior and low-level matches (soccer, football, whatever).

And the local university / college has a Sports degree. And they're going to introduce it as a mandatory course credit - i.e. each student HAS to referee 6 matches say, over a year, to get the credit

Excellent idea, I thought (not only to get the matches refereed but also for the sports students' understanding and learning)

Could definitely do something similar with all the players getting funding at the moment (a couple of mandatory 'turn up and play' sessions per year)