Queen's Club Championships
Queen's Club Championships | |
---|---|
Tournament information | |
Founded | 1890 |
Location |
London United Kingdom |
Venue | Queen's Club |
Category |
ATP World Series (1990–1997) ATP International Series (1998–2008) ATP World Tour 250 series (2009–2014) ATP World Tour 500 series (2015 Onwards) |
Surface | Grass / Outdoors |
Draw | 56S / 32Q / 24D |
Prize money | € 711,010 |
Website | www.aegonchampionships.com |
Current champions | |
Men's singles | Andy Murray |
Men's doubles |
Alexander Peya Bruno Soares |
The Queen's Club Championships is an annual tournament for male tennis players, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London. The event is part of the ATP World Tour 500 series on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour. It is currently promoted as the Aegon Championships for sponsorship reasons. For many years previously it was known as the Stella Artois Championships.
Queen's is one of the most prestigious grass court tournaments, as well as one of the oldest Tennis tournaments in the world, and serves as a warm-up for Wimbledon. Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt dominated the tournament in the early 21st century, each winning four titles.[1] Andy Murray won four titles between 2009 and 2015. Andy Roddick has called the courts at the Queen's Club "arguably the best in the world".[2]
History
Originally known as the London Grass Court Championships, the tournament traces back to 1884 when a tennis tournament was held at the London Athletic Club at Stamford Bridge, Fulham.[3] One year later the tournament was given the title of the London Championships, and it was held outdoors, on grass. In 1890 the tournament moved to its current location, the Queen's Club and consisted of a men's and women's singles event. In 1903 a men's doubles event was added followed in 1905 by the mixed doubles. In 1915 the addition of a women's doubles event completed the programme. The two World Wars interrupted the tournament from 1915–1918 and 1940–1946. Between 1970 and 1989 the Championships were part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit. The women's tournament was discontinued after the 1973 edition and from 1974 until 1976 no men's tournament was held.[4] The event is currently an ATP World Tour 250 series tournament on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour but will be upgraded to a ATP World Tour 500 series in 2015.[5][6]
During the 2004 singles tournament, Andy Roddick set the then world record for the fastest serve recorded at 153 mph (246.2 km/h) during a straight-set victory over Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan in the quarter-finals.[7]
Eight men jointly hold the record for most singles titles (at four each). They are Major Ritchie, Anthony Wilding, Roy Emerson, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray who won his fourth title in 2015.
Schedule
The Queen's Club Championships are held every year in June. They start one week after the clay-court French Open and conclude one week before the start of the grass court Wimbledon Championships, which are held just 4 miles (6 km) away. The equivalent warm-up event for women is the Eastbourne International, although this is held one week later.
Up to 2014, the break between the French Open and Wimbledon was just two weeks, and the Queen's Club Championships started the day after the French Open's men's final.[8]
Grass courts are the least common playing surface for top-level events on the ATP Tour. The 2009 schedule included only four grass court tournaments in the run-up to Wimbledon. They were the Queen's Club Championships, Gerry Weber Open, Eastbourne International, and the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships. An additional tournament is played on grass in Newport, Rhode Island, USA, in the week immediately after Wimbledon.
Coverage
Outside Wimbledon, Queen's is the grass-court tournament with the largest draw size. In addition, it enjoys full coverage on the BBC in the UK, and was shown in High Definition for the first time in 2009. The ball girls for the Aegon Championships are provided by Nonsuch High School and St Philomena's Catholic High School for Girls, two schools in the London Borough of Sutton.[9]
Sponsorship
From 1979 until 2008, the tournament was sponsored by Stella Artois, and thus called the Stella Artois Championships.[10] In 2009 the tournament was renamed as the Aegon Championships following a comprehensive sponsorship deal between Lawn Tennis Association and Aegon, which also led to renaming of Birmingham and Eastbourne grass court events.[11]
Past results
Men
Singles
Since 1890:
Champions by country
Country | Winner | First title | Last title |
---|---|---|---|
United States (USA) | 33 | 1905 | 2010 |
Great Britain (GBR) | 30 | 1890 | 2015 |
Australia (AUS) | 26 | 1919 | 2006 |
New Zealand (NZL) | 4 | 1907 | 1912 |
Germany (GER) | 3 | 1939 | 1996 |
West Germany (FRG) | 3 | 1985 | 1988 |
South Africa (RSA) | 2 | 1951 | 1992 |
Spain (SPA) | 2 | 1960 | 2008 |
Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 2 | 1989 | 1990 |
Japan (JPN) | 1 | 1921 | 1921 |
Canada (CAN) | 1 | 1927 | 1927 |
India (IND) | 1 | 1959 | 1959 |
Romania (ROU) | 1 | 1973 | 1973 |
Mexico (MEX) | 1 | 1977 | 1977 |
Sweden (SWE) | 1 | 1991 | 1991 |
Croatia (CRO) | 1 | 2012 | 2012 |
Bulgaria (BUL) | 1 | 2014 | 2014 |
Doubles
Since 1969:
(Note: Tournament dates back to 1890)
Champions by country
Country | Winner | First title | Last title |
---|---|---|---|
United States (USA) | 32 | 1969 | 2013 |
Australia (AUS) | 23 | 1969 | 2006 |
Canada (CAN) | 5 | 1999 | 2012 |
Sweden (SWE) | 4 | 1992 | 1998 |
Netherlands (NED) | 3 | 1970 | 1973 |
South Africa (RSA) | 3 | 1978 | 2009 |
France (FRA) | 3 | 1986 | 1987 |
Zimbabwe (ZIM) | 3 | 2002 | 2006 |
India (IND) | 2 | 1977 | 1977 |
Bahamas (BAH) | 2 | 2003 | 2007 |
Serbia (SER) | 2 | 2008 | 2010 |
Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 1990 | 1990 |
Russia (RUS) | 1 | 2009 | 2009 |
Israel (ISR) | 1 | 2010 | 2010 |
Belarus (BLR) | 1 | 2012 | 2012 |
Austria (AUT) | 1 | 2014 | 2014 |
Brazil (BRA) | 1 | 2014 | 2014 |
Women
Singles
Doubles
Year | Champion | Runner-up | Score |
---|---|---|---|
1971 | Rosie Casals Billie Jean King | Mary–Ann Curtis Valerie Ziegenfuss | 6–2, 8–6 |
1972 | Rosie Casals Billie Jean King | Brenda Kirk Pat Walkden | 5–7, 6–0, 6–2 |
1973 | Rosie Casals Billie Jean King | Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve | 4–6, 6–3, 7–5 |
Junior championship finals
Year | Champion | Runner-up |
---|---|---|
The Junior Championship | ||
2007 | Uladzimir Ignatik | Gastão Elias |
2006 | Iain Atkinson | Nicolas Santos |
2003 | Florin Mergea | Chris Guccione |
2002 | Alex Bogdanović | Dudi Sela |
The HSBC Junior Invitation Cup | ||
2001 | Santiago González | Andrew Banks |
The David Lloyd Leisure Cup | ||
2000 | Lee Childs | Arnaud Segoda |
1999 | Jarkko Nieminen | Lee Childs |
1998 | Edgardo Massa | Wei-Jen Chang |
The Sam Whitbread Cup | ||
1997 | Nicolás Massú | Xavier Malisse |
1996 | Jaymon Crabb | Arvind Parmar |
1995 | Alejandro Hernández | Jamie Delgado |
1994 | Jamie Delgado | Nicolás Lapentti |
1993 | Neville Godwin | David Škoch |
1992 | Grant Doyle | Lucas Arnold |
1991 | Leander Paes | Nicolas Kischewitz |
1990 | Andrew Foster | Dirk Dier |
Statistics
Players and winners
- Most titles – John McEnroe (4 singles and 1 doubles).
- Most Singles titles 4 – Major Ritchie, Anthony Wilding, Roy Emerson, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray.
- Most Singles finals Major Ritchie (8), John McEnroe (7), Harold Mahony, Roy Emerson (6), Arthur Lowe, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker (5)
- Youngest winner – Boris Becker, 17 years 207 days in 1985.
- Oldest winner – Major Ritchie, 38 years old in 1909 (Open era oldest winner was Jimmy Connors at 30 years old in 1983)
- Lowest-ranked champion – Scott Draper, ranked 108 in the world in 1998.
- Lowest-ranked finalist – Laurence Tieleman, ranked 253 in the world in 1998.
- Winners of both events – Pete Sampras in 1995 (doubles with Todd Martin), and Mark Philippoussis in 1997 (doubles with Patrick Rafter).
- Most prize money received – Pete Sampras won GBP241,804 from playing at Queen's Club. Lleyton Hewitt, who is still active on the tour, follows him closely with GBP228,165.
- 22 of the last 25 Wimbledon champions have played at the Queen's Club Championships.
- Several players have completed the Queen's/Wimbledon double, winning both events back to back, including Don Budge, Roy Emerson, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Lleyton Hewitt, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.
Matches
- Longest final – Sampras beat Henman in 151 minutes in 1999.
- Shortest final – Stich beat Ferreira in 57 minutes in 1993.
- Longest match (time) – Ashe beat Mitten in 6 hours and 16 minutes in 1979.
- Longest match (games) – Odizor beat Forget in a match containing 65 games in 1987.
Attendance
Centre Court holds 6,479 spectators. The highest total attendance for the week was in 2003, when 52,553 people attended the event; The highest attendance for one day was 8,362 on 11 June 2003.
References
- ↑ "Hewitt to join Nadal at Queens". BBC Sport. 7 May 2009. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
- ↑ "See the video for Sunday, 10 June 2007 – Roddick speaks near the end.". Artoischampionships.com. Archived from the original on 21 January 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
- ↑ Queens Club tournament.
- ↑ "$63, 260 Curtain-Raiser to Wimbledon". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 April 1974. p. 12.
- ↑ "ATP Announces 2015 ATP World Tour Calendar". ATP. 10 February 2014.
- ↑ "Tennis stretches grass season to six weeks". SBS. 11 February 2014.
- ↑ "Ivo Karlovic sets new world record for fastest serve". BBC. 6 March 2011.
- ↑ "ATP to boost total prize money, add time between Roland Garros and Wimbledon". tennis.com. AP. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
- ↑ LTA - Aegon Championships - Behind the Scenes with the Ball Girls at The Queen's Club
- ↑ "Stella Artois ends 30-year tennis sponsorship". PRWeek. 17 March 2008. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
- ↑ Olley, James (5 June 2009). "New Queen's Club sponsor set for a £30m revolution". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Queen's Club. |
- Official tournament website
- The Queen's Club website
- ATP tournament profile
- LTA tournament profile
- Official AEGON tennis sponsorship website
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Coordinates: 51°29′17″N 0°12′43″W / 51.488°N 0.212°W