LONDON: The Queens club has become an established feature of the London sports scene since the tournament moved from Stanford Bridge back in 1890. Since then it has held a variety of events, but it is tennis that has become the main feature.
Known currently as the Fever-Tree Championships, the Queen’s club has annually held a men’s tournament since 1977. Previous champions include Andy Murray, Marin Cilic, and Grigor Dimitrov. In 2018 players voted the event as the ATP 500 tournament of the year and it was nominated for the event of the year at the BT Sports Industry Awards.
Besides the impressive resume, is an even more impressive history of Queen’s. Here are some things you may not know about the venue.
Football: The Queen’s Club was once used for football during the early 1900s. In 1908 the venue staged their first and only international match between England and Wales, who drew 1-1. Between 1895-1921 is was also the home ground for Corinthians football team.
Olympic links: When London held the summer Olympic Games for the first time in 1908, Queen’s was one of the venues selected to stage a series of sports. They were lawn tennis, real tennis and racket sports. Great Britain won 15 out of the 18 medals in tennis. Meanwhile, Evan Nole was a gold in the rackets tournament and later became the club secretary at Queen’s.
Other sports: Athletics, Australian Rules and baseball are some of the other events that have taken place on the grounds. In 1923 Harold Abrahams won the 100-yard dash at a varsity athletics match. Abrahams went on to win gold at the 1928 Olympics and was one of the athletes the film Chariots of fire is based on.
World War II: During the second world war, Queen’s wasn’t able to escape the carnage. In 1940 two bombs were dropped and destroyed two of the covered courts.
Wimbledon winners: 20 out of the last 21 Wimbledon champions have played at
Queen’s. The only exception is Roger Federer, who has a lifetime contract to play in Halle. A tournament that takes place during the same week as Queen’s.
Capacity: Recently undergoing renovation to make the courts bigger, the premier court at Queen’s can now hold up to 9216 people and could 1 has a capacity of 927. Last year 71,000 people attended the tournament.
Davis Cup: in 2015 Great Britain hosted their first quarter-final tie in the Davis Cup since 1986 at Queen’s. They defeated France 3-2 on route to a historic title. Queen’s also hosted another tie between Britain and France back in 1990 which France won 5-0.
A tournament steeped in history.
This week, another chapter will be written. #QueensTennis pic.twitter.com/iY4QZFYx57
— cinch Championships (@QueensTennis) June 17, 2019
