Women's British Open to move to the Queen's Club in 2025
Event to run alongside the men's for the first time; new entry standards to be imposed
The 2025 British Open Real Tennis Championships will feature dedicated women’s singles and doubles draws alongside the open draws for the first time this November, following an announcement by the Tennis and Rackets Association (T&RA) today.
The British Open will therefore join the Australian and French Opens in combining both the open and women’s draws. It will leave just the US Open as the only major not to feature both open and women’s draws concurrently. Since the British Open features 24 players in the open singles main draw — unlike the Australian and French Opens which feature 16 players — entrants to the women’s event will have to meet a qualification standard for the first time in order to keep a handle on the scheduling of matches.
A limit of 8 players will be imposed on the women’s singles draw and 4 pairs on the women’s doubles draw. Players outside these limits will need to win through a qualifying tournament, to be held at a venue yet to be announced, with 2 qualifiers in the singles draw and 1 in the doubles. There will be a strict handicap cut-off of 40.4 to enter the qualifying tournament, mirroring the 15.4 handicap cut-off for the open draw with both representing the top 2% of eligible players worldwide. The same standard will apply to the doubles, with the added qualification that both players in a pair must meet the entry standard.
“Moving the Ladies British Open to the prestigious Queen's Club is a testament to the relentless passion and perseverance of all those who champion women's tennis,” said Claire Fahey, 12 time British Open Champion. “It represents a historic leap forward, elevating the status of elite women's sports and I truly believe will shine an even bigger spotlight on the incredible talent and dedication of female athletes in the game.”
The T&RA has also announced that the Open will take place between Sunday 16 and Tuesday 25 November. The women’s draw will run from Wednesday 19 and Sunday 23 November. The women’s singles final will be held on Saturday evening and the doubles final on Sunday evening, giving the event breathing room to showcase the best of women’s real tennis in its own right, as opposed to acting as a curtain raiser to the open finals on Monday and Tuesday evenings. The qualifying draw will likely run on the weekend of 15-16 November, but full details are yet to be announced.
The schedule of the open draws is expected to be largely unaffected by the change, though some matches later in the week may be subject to an earlier start time to accommodate the greater number of matches. The prize fund for the open tournament will also not be affected by the introduction of the women’s draws, though prize monies will be available for the latter.
Following the successful trial of matches on the West Court on the first Sunday in 2024, the club will again see matches across both courts at Queen’s on both Sunday and Wednesday in 2025. The first Sunday will again see eight first round open singles matches, while the Wednesday will feature the four women’s quarter finals alongside the four open doubles first round matches. Thursday and Friday will see the women’s semi-finals played alongside the open quarter finals, though all will be on one court.
The change of schedule means that the Ladies British Open will run twice in 2025, with the final event at Seacourt to be held between 10-13 April. The event had previously been run at Queen’s three times between 1986 and 1989, albeit after the conclusion of the open draw. Winners included Leslie Ronaldson, Penny Lumley and Sally Jones. It will also be the last event which uses the moniker “Ladies” in the title, as the new format will be run under the label “Women’s” instead.
The changes will therefore mark the most revolutionary year in elite women’s real tennis since the establishment of the LRTA and the Ladies World Championship in the 1980’s, with the World Championship moving to a challenge format to be played in Newport in May.