The Queen's Club is a
private sporting club in
Barons Court,
West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual
Queen's Club Championships grass court lawn tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
tournament (currently known as the "HSBC Championships" for sponsorship reasons). It has 28 outdoor courts and ten indoor. With two courts, it is also the national headquarters of
real tennis
Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...
, hosting the British Open every year except in 2020 due to the
coronavirus pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The Queen's Club also has
rackets and
squash courts; it became the headquarters for both sports after the closure of the
Prince's Club
The Prince's Club was a socially exclusive gentlemen's multisports club in London, England. The original 'Prince's Club' was founded in 1853 in Chelsea, London, Chelsea by George and James Prince and its main sports were Racquets (sport), racket ...
in 1940.
History
Founded as The Queen's Club Limited on 19 August 1886 by
Evan Charteris, George Francis and Algernon Grosvener, the Queen's Club was the world's second multipurpose sports complex, after the
Prince's Club
The Prince's Club was a socially exclusive gentlemen's multisports club in London, England. The original 'Prince's Club' was founded in 1853 in Chelsea, London, Chelsea by George and James Prince and its main sports were Racquets (sport), racket ...
, 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 Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
, 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
Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...
,
Eton Fives,
rackets, lawn tennis (grass courts and covered courts),
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
,
rugby and
athletics. 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
''Jeu de paume'' (, ; originally spelled ; ), nowadays known as real tennis, (US) court tennis or (in France) ''courte paume'', is a ball-and-court game that originated in France. It was an indoor precursor of tennis played without racquets, ...
'' (
real tennis
Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...
) and
rackets events of the
1908 Summer Olympics
The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedu ...
.
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
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
games of
Corinthian F.C. One international was held, between
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
on 18 March 1895, the result being a 1–1 draw.
Sale of Queen's Club
On 13 September 2005, the
Lawn Tennis Association
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man founded in 1888. The LTA promotes all levels of lawn tennis. The organization believes tennis can provide ...
(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 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, sharing its SW15 postcode with neighbouring Putney and Kingston Vale, and takes up a far western strip, running north to south, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large counc ...
. The Cinch 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 in Eastbourne, the
Hall of Fame Open
The Hall of Fame Open is an international tennis tournament that has been held every year in July since 1976 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, the original location of the U.S. Open (tennis), U.S. National Champion ...
in Rhode Island, the
Rosmalen Championships in the Netherlands, and
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
.
The ball girls are selected from year 8, 9, and 10 pupils at
St Philomena's Catholic High School for Girls in South London and
Nonsuch High School for Girls in Surrey.
See also
*
All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), also known as the All England Club, based at Church Road, Wimbledon, London, England, is a Gentlemen's club, private members' club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon Championsh ...
— London's other famous tennis club
*
British Covered Court Championships
*
Queen's Club Covered Court Championship
*
The "Pioneer Exhibition Game" in London (1916)
*
List of tennis stadiums by capacity
The following is a list of notable tennis stadiums by capacity, that is the maximum number of spectators they can regularly accommodate.
Notes:
* Stadiums ordered by their capacity (if equal, by the first stadium to reach the capacity)
* Some of ...
References
*
External links
*
The Queen's ClubSt. Philomena's Catholic High School for Girls websiteThe 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 the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Sports clubs and teams 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
Olympic tennis venues
West Kensington
Tennis clubs in the United Kingdom