Year on year, Great Britain hosts some of the world’s greatest tennis players in a number of tournaments across the country. The tournaments accumulate to sit under one title, known as the British Grass Court Season. Essentially, this is a group of tennis tournaments that lead to, arguably, the world’s greatest tennis tournament, The Championships, Wimbledon. Whether you want to call this the Grass Court season, or the road to Wimbledon, it’s a special time in the tennis calendar - let’s look at the tournaments that play a part in this sporting ritual.
Rothesay Open Nottingham: 3 – 11 June 2023
Britain’s grass court season kickstarts at Nottingham Tennis Centre, with the Nottingham Open. Founded in 1887, it’s a WTA-250 and ATP-Challenger event; The ATP Challenger Tour is the second-highest tier of tennis tournaments behind the ATP Tour. 2022’s winners were Brit Dan Evans, beating Australian Jordan Thompson to win his second title, and Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, who defeated Alison Riske from the USA in a final ending at 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Rothesay Classic Birmingham: 12 – 18 June 2023
Tournament number two of the grass court season heads to Birmingham, for the Classic, held at the Edgbaston Priory Club. Whilst the Nottingham tournament features on the WTA and ATP Tours, Birmingham only features on the former, at a 250-level. With this in mind, it is often known as the sister tournament to The Queen’s Club Championships. In 2022, it was in fact Nottingham’s champion Beatriz Haddad Maia that stole the crown, to make her a back-to-back champion in the grass-court season. This tournament was founded much later than Nottingham, in 1982.
Cinch Championships, The Queen’s Club: 19 – 25 June 2023
We’re now halfway through the grass court journey, and what better way to celebrate the milestone than heading down to London’s W14, home to the prestigious and iconic Queen’s Club. This event is one of the longest-running events on the ATP Tour after it was founded in 1890, 4 years after the club was opened, and named after its first patron Queen Victoria. It is one of the oldest tennis tournaments in the world.
As an ATP-500 tournament (an upgrade from its 250 status in 2015) and voted ATP tournament of the year in 2015, 2016 and 2018, this event is not one to be missed in the tennis calendar. Furthermore, the role of honour is nothing short of extensive and impressive; tennis icons such as Rod Laver, Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, Ivan Lendl, Rafael Nadal and British legend Andy Murray have graced the courts. In fact, all 7 players have translated title runs at Queen’s to success at Wimbledon – they really play up to this tournament being a key indicator for Wimbledon!
As the Home of Hospitality, we’re proud to offer a range of award-winning VIP experiences at this popular sporting event; find out more about our packages here.
‘[Queen’s] has arguably the best courts in the world…’ (Andy Roddick, 4-time Queen’s Club champion).
Rothesay International Eastbourne: 24 June – 1 July 2023
Now, for the penultimate grass court event, and perhaps the ultimate Wimbledon warm-up event: it’s Eastbourne International, hosted at Devonshire Park. A key difference with the other grass court events is that this tournament runs for 8 days: Eastbourne traditionally commencing on the same day as Queen’s semi-finals day and concluding the Saturday after. The tournament currently stands as both an ATP-250 and WTA-500 event, however was a women’s-only tournament until 2009.
19 of the top 20 women’s players have played at Eastbourne for the last three tournament appearances; if that’s not wow enough, the last four Wimbledon champions on the WTA tournament graced the courts at Devonshire Park the week before. There we have it: Eastbourne certainly lives up to its name as the Wimbledon warm-up event!
We’re so excited to be able to offer brand-new, innovative VIP experiences for this incredible event for 2023; from half-day offerings to a full-days experience, hospitality for this exhilarating event is an absolute must-experience – see more here.
‘[Eastbourne] is such an amazing tournament…there’s certainly something about this place…’ (Taylor Fritz, 2-time Eastbourne International champion).
The Championships, Wimbledon: 3 – 16 July 2023
Drum roll please…it’s here, the grand finale of the grass-court season and one of the world’s greatest sporting events…The Championships, Wimbledon. One of four World Grand Slams, Great Britain is proud to host such a prestigious event year-on-year. Founded in 1877, it’s the oldest tournament in the British grass court season journey, where 21 amateurs turned up to compete in the Men’s Singles.
Nearly 150 years later, Wimbledon has stuck to certain traditions, such as an all-white dress code for competitors and the consumption of British strawberries and cream at the tournament. It’s an event that is enjoyed by all from around the world, with some travelling hundreds of miles to queue for a ticket if they were not successful in the ballot.
It’s an honour to be the official partner for The Championships and be the hospitality provider for this world-renowned event. Our experiences boast nothing less than the Best of British, and we have something for everyone to make their time at Wimbledon both memorable and second to none. Discover our Wimbledon hospitality experiences here.
“There is nothing like playing at Wimbledon; you can feel the footprints of the legends of the game, the men and women that have graced those courts…” (Venus Williams, 5-time Wimbledon champion).
There you have it, the British grass-court season. It’s quite something, right? And you can be part of it, when booking hospitality to Keith Prowse! Secure your seat on court now with official hospitality at The Queen’s Club Championships, Eastbourne International and The Championships, Wimbledon.
