Lexus Ilkley Open: Incremental gains key to establishing Yorkshire tournament's role in run to Wimbledon
If there was a mantra to define the progress of the annual LTA tournament at Ilkley this past decade, it would be walk before you can run.
The 10th edition of what is now known as the Lexus Ilkley Open begins on Sunday with yet more incremental gains made on last year’s event, but with organisers responsible enough to know there is a lot of work still ahead to maintain its position in the calendar.
The tournament, a WTA 125 event for women and an ATP 125 Challenger for men, has established itself as part of the grasscourt build-up to Wimbledon. While still behind the likes of Queen’s, Eastbourne, Nottingham and Birmingham, it has become a regular staple of the calendar. Incremental growth has been key to keeping it that way.
“Over the years we’ve managed to elevate the tournament year on year,” tournament director Rik Smith told The Yorkshire Post. “We’ve got it to the point now where it’s one of the key five warm-up events in the UK leading into Wimbledon.”
This year’s developments come in the shape of more seats on centre court and covers for the practice courts; aesthetic advancements that might not catch the eye, but which have been rewarded by ticket sales.
“I think we’re now probably on a par with, if not slightly higher than - in terms of overall spectators – Birmingham, which is a well-established tournament,” said Smith, with the hope being 25,000 people will pass through the gates of Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club over the course of the eight days.
“In terms of tennis tickets sold we’re at 14,000, the highest number we’ve ever sold going into the tournament, we always get walk-ups throughout the week From a tennis perspective we are pretty much sold out from Tuesday through to Sunday on centre court, which we’ve never had before at this stage. To do that is very encouraging.
“We’ve expanded our hospitality offering again and we’re now a key event for a lot of large corporations in Leeds and Bradford, it’s one of those events that really captures that business and corporate market.”
Restrictions of the site on the banks of the River Wharfe and underneath the famous Cow and Calf, mean growth can never be dramatic.
“As we have elevated the tournament and built the event around the tournament, that has helped us increase spectators, but there are limitations on how far we can go, partly because of budget, but partly because of site constraints as well,” explained Smith.
“With the orientation of courts we are a bit limited on site with the expansion in relation to our centre court, so having more than 2,500 people on site at any one time is quite difficult.
“We will need to increase centre court capacity in order to do that, and hopefully in the future we will be able to get that up to the 2,000-2,500 mark.
“At the moment, to elevate and maintain the tournament has been a small increase this year on centre, up to 1,800, but really it’s about elevating the whole experience for the spectator. That’s what we’ve been looking to do each year since 2022.”
Ilkley’s position in the calendar, straight after the French Open and now rivalling the new Queens women’s event, means attracting players in the world’s top 75 is difficult.
Smith said: “We’ve not got that big name like we’ve had in past years; Marin Cilic or a David Goffin.
“But there’s lots of British interest with Jacob Fearnley, Jack Pinnington Jones, Billy Harris. Plenty of storylines to follow.”