Wimbledon of the North begins in Ilkley today as Yorkshire club welcomes tennis fraternity

Rik Smith has given up looking at the weather forecast. In his role as tournament director of the Lexus Ilkley Trophy, it is the one thing he cannot control.

Suitable grandstands, helpful marshalls, players on the right court at the right time, hospitality provisions, big screens showing Euro 2024 matches, visits by school children and the wider legacy of the tournament are all things he does have an input into and which are all contributing to making Ilkley the ‘Wimbledon of the North’ as they like to call it.

Ahead of the eighth staging of an LTA grass-court event at Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club, all of the above is in place. Indeed, the proclamation that the tournaments gets ‘bigger and better’ with each passing year is no idle boast.

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“From 2022, centre court capacity has grown from 800 to 1,100 to now 1,500,” says Smith of the annual growth that is required.

Blue skies please: A general view of centre court in a recent edition of the Lexu Ilkley Trophy which is growing year on year and which begins today. (Picture: Lewis Storey/Getty Images for LTA)Blue skies please: A general view of centre court in a recent edition of the Lexu Ilkley Trophy which is growing year on year and which begins today. (Picture: Lewis Storey/Getty Images for LTA)
Blue skies please: A general view of centre court in a recent edition of the Lexu Ilkley Trophy which is growing year on year and which begins today. (Picture: Lewis Storey/Getty Images for LTA)

“We’ve sold out for the last two days already, we’re 70 per cent up on ticket sales year on year, so the demand is there.

“Our ambition has always been to see what the potential of the tournament was, so every year we’ve sold out for the last three days which shows the demand has been there, and every year we look to increase the overall size and capacity.

“This is still the biggest tennis tournament in the north of England. We always use the tagline the ‘Wimbledon of the North’ and that’s our ambition for it. We want to put it on the map and get it the attention it deserves.

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“It’s a fantastic tournament that has some top players from around the world competing in it and it’s a fantastic day out and spectacle for everybody. We want to maximise the potential of it.”

To do that this year, attention has expanded away from merely the action on the courts to making it an event to attend, rather than just a tennis tournament.

Smith explains: “There’s a lot of competition to get people to a sporting event these days.

“So what we try and do at Ilkley is provide not just a tennis tournament but a real event, it’s a day out for people to go to. That makes it much more valuable.

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“Unlike a football match that is crash bang wallop and done in 90 minutes, tennis is an all-day event and gives you great value.

“If you’ve got people there for four, five, six hours you’ve got to keep people interested with other things going on which is why at Ilkley we really work hard at the full spectator experience. So come for the tennis, watch a couple of sets, go into the street food area, go into the bars, other entertainment is on.

“That’s what we want to create, a whole event for people to attend. The big thing is the tennis – but in order to get them in you need to give them an event to be excited about.”

The tennis itself starts today with the ATP qualifier for the men’s tournament. Tomorrow sees the women begin qualifying in their ITF event as the men commence their first round. Finals are scheduled for next Sunday. The cast list of players is healthy, a smattering of big names like David Goffin, Richard Gasquet and Denis Shapovalov mixed in with players outside the top 100 on both tours who are hoping to fine tune their game ahead of the Wimbledon qualifiers.

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Beyond the actual tennis and on-site entertainment, there is a bigger strategy in place.

Each year Ilkley invite schoolchildren from the surrounding area to play tennis and watch the tournament. This year, 2,000 are coming down throughout the week.

Externally, Ilkley have put in a tender to operate the parks tennis provision in Bradford after the city council unlocked £500,000 in government and LTA funding to get more people playing.

“That’s part of our wider community strategy that we’ve kicked off this year,” says Smith, “not just to support the local area and economy here but also using the benefits and the profit the tournament makes and ploughing it back into grassroots tennis.

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“We want to make sure the profits coming out of this go into funding the less-privileged areas of our region and allow us to give the opportunity to play tennis for free.

“There is a barrier in racquet sports that it can be expensive not just to get into but to continue to develop, so by hosting the Ilkley Trophy we can generate funds to support the game.

“Legacy is very important to us. It’s a fantastic week for the town and for the club, but ultimately what does it do for tennis and how does it create a legacy? What does that tournament mean for the wider area and for tennis in the future?”

Everything is in place for a grand week of tennis in Ilkley and a lasting footprint to be made.

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A little sunshine and blue skies would do very nicely. “The bigger we get, the more financial risk we have and that risk is based on the weather,” shrugs Smith, ruefully.

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