Mayor and LTA partner to open tennis up to thousands more Londoners
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced a new partnership with the LTA that will open up the sport to more people across London. The new three-year collaboration will see a £500,000 investment from the Mayor and the LTA into Rally Together London, a programme which will train 250 people from under-represented backgrounds to join the tennis workforce and facilitate sessions for local communities, with a minimum of 50% to be female.
Rally Together London will recruit, train and deploy 200 tennis activators to deliver the sport. These activators will help grow the LTA’s Barclays Free Park Tennis programme which offers free, weekly sessions with equipment provided on public park courts, and LTA SERVES which takes tennis to the heart of local communities for young people who may never otherwise have played.
Through the partnership, a cohort of 50 new tennis coaches will be supported to achieve their LTA Assistant (Level 1) and Instructor (Level 2) qualifications to help grow participation in parks and community venues, and create employment opportunities, again with a particular focus on growing the number of female coaches in the sport.
The wider partnership will see the Mayor and LTA work together on various initiatives and campaigns to promote women’s tennis and women’s sport across the capital, such as the recent launch of the HSBC Championships with a pop-up tennis court on the city’s iconic Trafalgar Square.
Curtesy: LTA
Further £1 million to be injected into Scottish schools tennis to supercharge the sport
Every child in Scotland will have the opportunity to try tennis after further investment of £1 million was announced to supercharge the national schools programme, LTA Youth Schools. This builds on the investment already made which has taken LTA Youth into over half of Scottish schools.
The LTA, LTA Tennis Foundation, Tennis Scotland, sportscotland and the Scottish Government are working together to grow tennis in Scottish schools.
This new investment is intended to capitalise on growing participation in Scotland and recognise the inspirational achievements of Andy Murray and Jamie Murray over many years, contributing to the ongoing achievements of players including Gordon Reid, Jacob Fearnley, Cam Norrie and Maia Lumsden.
The new funding will be invested by the LTA Tennis Foundation and sportscotland into the LTA Youth Schools programme. Tennis Scotland and sportscotland Active Schools network will work directly with schools in Scotland, with the ambition of giving every schoolchild in Scotland the opportunity to pick up a racket and experience tennis, regardless of age, gender, ability, disability or background.
This investment will also create opportunities for children to continue to play tennis outside of their school by creating links to local clubs, parks and venues with affordable programmes.
Curtesy: LTA
Spring Forum presentations now available
Presentations from the Spring Forum have now been uploaded to the TIA website and can be viewed by clicking on the links below:
- Quality standards for Padel and other key sports construction issues – SAPCA
- The benefits of a volunteer workforce – Atlantic Racquet Centre
- How sport and sustainability are learning together – England Golf
- The sustainability challenge – Roehampton Club
- Artificial Intelligence in Sport – Pinsent Masons
No 1 Court debenture issue oversubscribed
In April The All England Lawn Tennis Ground plc (“AELTG”), owner of the tennis courts, Grounds and buildings at which The Championships, Wimbledon is held, announced the opening of applications for the issue of up to 1,250 No.1 Court debentures for the five years from 2027 to 2031 inclusive, priced at £73,000 each.
On May 27th the company announced that the issue had been significantly oversubscribed and that therefore, all 1,250 debentures will be allotted and issued. The AELTG will notify all applicants as to whether their applications have been successful. The debenture issue will raise approximately £74.050 million (net of VAT, nominal value and estimated expenses).
The proceeds of the issue will be used to help finance the AELTG’s capital expenditure including the continuing development and improvement of the facilities at the Grounds and the wider Wimbledon estate.
Advisers to the issue were Rothschild & Co and CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP.
Curtesy: AELTC
Yonex expands its manufacturing site
Yonex has announced the completion of its new tennis racquet factory, located on the same site as its existing factory and the Yonex Performance Innovation Center, the research and development facility that began operations in July last year in Nagaoka City. The factory is scheduled to start operations in December. Yonex will meet the increasing global demands in volume by cooperating with Yonex Performance Innovation Center (Blue Lab) and will deliver Made by Yonex high-quality products to support players at all levels.
Yonex was the second most-used racquet brand at the French Open 2025. As part of its Global Growth Strategy, Yonex is placing a particular focus on expanding the tennis business in North America. Aiming to establish tennis as its second core business pillar, Yonex continues to strengthen both the product lineup and customer engagement, while working to further raise brand awareness and broaden the customer base. The construction of this new factory represents an important step in meeting the growing demand from customers worldwide.
Curtesy: Yonex
PADEL AND PICKLEBALL NEWS
Newcastle city centre is to get its first padel courts. Project Padel has been granted approval for a new outdoor facility in the Stephenson Quarter area behind Central Station. NCC has granted a temporary planning permission for the development lasting three years, until May 2028. It said that the courts were “not considered to be a suitable option as a permanent way forward with this site”, but were acceptable as a temporary installation. An opening date for the site is yet to be confirmed.
Nottingham Tennis Centre is planning to convert an existing tennis court into three new covered padel courts.
The Trilogy Rackets Festival is heading to the Hove sea front. Tennis, padel and pickleball will be showcased together from July 21-27 and players of all levels are invited to take part in the festival filled with tournaments, expert workshops, professional exhibition matches, live music and a guest appearance by Judy Murray.
Set against a stunning coastal backdrop, the festival will bring together well-known names in the world of racket sports, alongside grassroots players and fans. Game4Padel opened Hove Beach Park’s padel, tennis and pickleball facilities earlier this year and the park has since then become a thriving and busy hub for people to try out or hone their racket skills and socialise with other players.
Gosport to get first free-to-use outdoor pickleball courts. Gosport Borough Council has started work to transform old tennis courts at Privett Park into two purpose-built pickleball courts and four renovated tennis courts. This is part of the council’s £1 million investment in sports and leisure across the borough for this year.