Unless you are closing in on your 60s (or older), the Queen’s Club Championships will evoke thoughts of a men-only tournament that serves – pun intended – as the perfect warm-up event to Wimbledon. However, tennis fans of an older vintage may just remember back as far as the early 1970s, when there was a women’s tournament alongside that of the men’s.
It was a prestigious event too, and whilst Olga Morozova – the last women’s singles champion, in 1973 – is a name that only real tennis nerds will recall, Chris Evert triumphed in 1972, with Margaret Court winning in both 1971 and 1970. The men’s event has a long and storied history, dating back all the way to 1881. However, so does the women’s tournament, which was first played that same year, although it then missed the following two years before resuming in 1884.
But the women’s version of this tournament, for so long forgotten and seemingly resigned to the history books, is due to return in 2025. This is great for women’s tennis and, in particular, the sport in the UK. Laura Robson, who won Junior Wimbledon at the age of just 14, and reached a career-high of 27 in the world rankings, has played a big part in bringing back the event.
Robson’s playing career was sadly limited and then ultimately cut short by injury, and she retired from the game at the age of just 28. She moved into the administrative side of things and acted as the tournament director at the grass-court Nottingham Open, another Wimbledon warm-up event, in both 2023 and 2024. She said that she first remembered “coming to Queen’s as a 10-year-old and watching the men’s event, so now to have women’s tennis back in London for the first time in 50 years and have the line-up that we do, it’s a massive honour and I can’t wait to get it going.”
Big Names Confirmed
Called the HSBC Championships for sponsorship reasons, the women’s Queen’s Club Championships will take place from the 7th to the 15th of June, 2025. This has a small overlap with the men’s tournament, which has qualifying rounds on the 14th and 15th, with the final on the 22nd. The full line-up for the event, which many top men have used as a perfect pre-Wimbledon tournament, is yet to be confirmed. However, we already have some big names in the draw and the return of the women’s Championships should mean a very high-calibre fortnight of tennis.
Wimbledon starts on the 30th of June and so the chance to get settled into a London base, play against some very strong players, and get used to the grass courts and British weather, makes Queen’s an obvious pick for many.
Prep Event for Wimbledon
It is an illustrious event in its own right, with past male winners including Carlos Alcaraz, Andy Murray, Rafa Nadal, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Rod Laver. As said, the women’s event was won by Chris Evert and Margaret Court in its later years, whilst former world number one Evonne Goolagong lost in the final the last time the women’s event was staged.
However, as big as Queen’s is in itself, it is its qualities as a prep event for Wimbledon that is perhaps the bigger draw in terms of attracting big names. Already confirmed for the return of the women’s tournaments are English stars Katie Boulter, the British number one, and also Emma Radacanu. They will be joined by 2024 Eastbourne champion Daria Kasatkina, Naomi Osaka (winner of four Grand Slams), and the 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys.
But No Equal Pay
In terms of equality of pay and exposure for men and women, tennis is far better than just about every other sport out there. Since Wimbledon brought female prize money into line with men in 2007, all four of the game’s majors have offered equal pay. The US Open took the step in 1973, though the other three Grand Slams did not follow suit until the 21st century.
However, pay inequality does still exist, particularly where tournaments are not staged alongside each other and so are not necessarily directly comparable. In the case of Queen’s the women’s event is a WTA 500 tournament, whilst the men’s is ATP 500. Some tournaments of this nature, played concurrently, or in this case consecutively, do offer equal pay, but for now that will not be the case at Queen’s.
The 2025 tournament will see men play for a total of around £2.1m, with just under £1m available for the “new” women’s contest. Robson said that the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) would “love to hit that marker [pay equality] well before the WTA Tour” but was aware that needed to host “a successful event,” adding “we need people to come and watch and to get excited about it.”
Top Players Bring More Fans
It has been Robson’s job to attract the top female players to come to Queen’s but by her own admission, her job has been easy. She said that the big names already signed up “had not needed much convincing” and that bodes well for the chances of more elite players deciding to make Queen’s part of their Wimbledon preparations.
Robson and all those behind the tournament are well aware that after a break of more than 50 years they cannot expect the women’s tournament to instantly jump to the level of the men’s. However, if they can bring in a few more top players the return of the women’s competition is sure to attract plenty of attention and be a sellout.
Organisers will hope, as will all connected to British tennis, that Radacanu can stay fit and keep slowly improving. Despite her US Open win now being almost three and a half years ago, she remains a huge draw, and her presence in the draw will ensure plenty of excitement.
Of course, it is far from a one-person event though, and we will be watching closely in the coming weeks and months to see which other stars are added to the line-up. To have two huge tennis tournaments in the capital each summer would be a big deal for the game and we can’t wait for the summer of tennis to begin!