On June 29th the LTA launched tennis’ biggest ever investment initiative, called ‘Transforming British Tennis Together’ (TBTT), to make courts across the country more useable and accessible to everyone over the next ten years. The £250m transformation of Britain’s tennis courts comes at a time of huge momentum in elite British tennis and high levels of interest for the sport within local communities.
The LTA has committed to investing £125 million of its own funds from the sale of its shares in the All England Ground Company Ltd, to improve community tennis facilities across the country, and plans to unlock a further £125 million through match funding from community networks with a shared vision for growing the game.
In order to benefit from the fund, the LTA is encouraging communities across the country to develop together strong, joined up and comprehensive bids which will enable them to bring tennis to a wider audience.
The type of projects that will attract funding for local tennis communities are ones that will increase playing time via new covered and floodlit courts; making tennis more accessible via on-line booking and gate entry systems; making tennis more user-friendly via court refurbishment projects and more attractive social spaces and innovative ways to engage and keep new players in the sport.
Currently only 7% of Britain’s 23,000 tennis courts are covered and one in seven park courts are floodlit.
By working with communities across Britain with a real passion for tennis, the LTA aims to deliver 750 new covered indoor courts, over 4,000 new floodlit courts and approximately 3,000 court entry systems across the country over the next decade.
An extensive network of TBTT roadshows has been organised by the LTA to set out its plans and aspirations for the TBTT programme. For further information go to www.eventbrite.co.uk and search tennis roadshows.