Wimbledon have announced significant ‘enhancement’ to its qualifying event in 2017, including live coverage and entry fees.
In a first for the tournament, the All England Club has announced that spectators will be able to purchase tickets for Roehampton priced at £5 each. All proceeds will go to charity.
The club has also announced that matches on the Show Court will be streamed live on wimbledon.com, as well as British Eurosport.
The raft of changes has been introduced with Maria Sharapova set to compete in qualifying for the first time. The Russian, who is making her return from a doping suspension, recently announced that she would take up her automatic place in qualifying instead of applying for a wildcard.
Sharapova’s presence in qualifying will bring a new spotlight to the event at Roehampton. With the top 96 players in the world guaranteed entry, the Russian will be by far the biggest name – man or woman – forced to compete in qualifying in living memory.
8 June 2016
Transitioning between surfaces can be one of the biggest challenges in the game. Understan... More
15 September 2016
The greatest champions, goes the old adage, are those who leave their sport better than th... More
17 August 2017
Alicia Molik, a former top 10 star who owned one of the sport’s best serves, believes se... More
23 March 2017
Think umpiring is an easy job? Think again. Because umpire's don't just have to keep an ey... More
© 2024 Tennis Australia