The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships men's

grass court A grass court is one of the four different types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Grass courts are made of grasses in different compositions depending on the tournament. Although grass c ...

lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "cinch Championships" for sponsorship reasons). It has 28 outdoor courts and ten indoor. With two courts, it is also the national headquarters of real tennis, hosting the British Open every year excepting 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Queen's Club also has

rackets Racket may refer to: * Racket (crime), a systematised element of organized crime ** Protection racket, a scheme whereby a group provides protection to businesses or other groups through violence outside the sanction of the law * Racket (sports equ ...

and squash courts; it became the headquarters for both sports after the closure of the Prince's Club in 1940.

History

Founded as The Queen's Club Limited on 19 August 1886 by

Evan Charteris The Hon. Sir Evan Edward Charteris (29 January 1864 – 16 November 1940, Jesmond Hill, Pangbourne) was an English biographer, barrister and arts administrator. He published notable biographies of his friend John Singer Sargent and of Edmund Gosse ...

, George Francis and Algernon Grosvener, the Queen's Club was the world's second multipurpose sports complex, after the Prince's Club, and became the world's only multipurpose sports complex when the Prince's Club relocated to Knightsbridge and lost its outdoor sports facilities. The club is named after

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

, its first patron. The first lawn tennis courts were opened on 19 May 1887, and the first sporting event was held on 1 and 2 July 1887 when Oxford played Cambridge. The club buildings were opened in January 1888, having taken about 18 months to construct. William Marshall, finalist of the inaugural 1877 Wimbledon Championships was the architect. Among the initial sports offered at the club were real tennis, Eton Fives,

, lawn tennis (grass courts and covered courts), football,

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

. Cricket was also played, but not as an organised sport. The University Sports meeting between Cambridge and Oxford was held at the Queen's Club from 1888 to 1928. Queen's Club was the venue of the covered courts (indoor) tennis, '' jeu de paume'' ( real tennis) and

events of the 1908 Summer Olympics. On 7 March, 1914 George V attended the Navy v Army rugby match. The army won by four goals and two tries to the navy's three tries. Until 1922, the club was the main ground for the football games of Corinthian F.C. One international was held, between

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

on 18 March 1895, the result being a 1–1 draw.

Sale of Queen's Club

On 13 September 2005, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the governing body of British lawn tennis, which had owned Queen's since 1953, put the club up for sale. The terms required that the rackets club and the Queen's Club Championships remain unaffected (the site's value for residential or commercial redevelopment might greatly exceed its value as a sports club, in the event that planning permission could be obtained, and the LTA wished to preserve the club's role in British tennis). On 8 March 2006, the LTA announced that it would sell to club members for £45 million, ending seven months of uncertainty about the club's future. However some members disputed the LTA's right to sell the club, which they contested it merely held in trust on their behalf, and began to raise funds to dispute the sale in court. In December 2006, the two sides reached an out-of-court

settlement Settlement may refer to: * Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building *Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

in which the sale price was reduced to £35 million. In February 2007, the LTA relocated its headquarters from Queen's Club to the new National Tennis Centre in

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...

. The Fever-Tree Championships remains one of the six most popular grass competitions on the men's ATP tour, along with the Halle Open in Germany, the

Aegon International The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as a WTA 500 series on the WTA Tour and an ATP Tour ...

in Eastbourne, the Hall of Fame Open in Rhode Island, the Rosmalen Championships in the Netherlands, and Wimbledon. The ball girls are selected from year 8, 9, and 10 pupils at

St Philomena's Catholic High School for Girls St Philomena's Catholic High School for Girls is a school for girls (aged 11–18) in Carshalton, South London, England. In 2008, Ofsted rated the school as 'good'.

in South London and

Nonsuch High School for Girls Nonsuch High School is an all-girls' grammar school with an academy status, located in Cheam, in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, on the border of the London Borough of Sutton, and standing in of grounds on the edge of N ...

in Surrey.

References

External links

*
The Queen's Club

St. Philomena's Catholic High School for Girls website

The Tennis & Rackets Association
{{Olympic venues discontinued events Athletics venues in London Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Corinthian F.C. Defunct football venues in England Fulham Gentlemen's clubs in London History of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Organisations based in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Racquets venues Real tennis venues Sport in Hammersmith and Fulham Sports clubs established in 1901 Sports venues completed in 1886 Squash in the United Kingdom Squash venues Tennis venues in London 1886 establishments in England Venues of the 1908 Summer Olympics West Kensington Tennis clubs

History

Sale of Queen's Club

See also

References

External links