‘Bigger and better’ British grass court season for 2017
Originally published on 07/04/16 00:00
The LTA, in conjunction with The All England Lawn Tennis Club announced the changes on Thursday to further enhance the British grass court season in the lead up to The Championships.
“This is all about delivering a bigger and better set of grass court tournaments for the players and our fans," said LTA chief executive Michael Downey. "It represents another major step in the evolution of the British grass court circuit. I would like to thank all our partners at the AELTC, Aegon, the ATP and WTA, venues and city councils because this has truly been a collaborative effort to take our tournaments to another level of excellence.
"Ultimately, we want to jump-start the important summer season of participation by trying to "own the month of June" with an extensive and high quality series of major tennis events to help inspire more people to pick up a racket and play tennis. At the same time, this new look calendar will help optimise the players’ preparation for competing in the world's premier tennis tournament, The Championships, Wimbledon.”
From 2017, the pre-existing ATP World Tour 250 Aegon Open Nottingham tournament will move back to Eastbourne, merging with the WTA Premier Aegon International to form a joint event, as previously existed between 2009 and 2014.
Nottingham will host a one-week tournament, combining tthe women's $250k WTA International Aegon Open Nottingham with a men's $100k ATP Challenger event.
The Aegon Trophy Series (ATP Challenger & ITF Women's Pro Circuit) will see a doubling of prize money from $300,000 to more than $600,000 in 2017.
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