Seagulls swooping onto the courts, players milling about the terraces, a picturesque seaside backdrop: the Eastbourne tennis tournament possesses a unique charm.
The players love it for its informality, its excellent courts, and the ease with which they can walk along the seafront from their hotels to the venue. For fans, it’s a cheaper alternative to Wimbledon and Queen’s that still allows them to watch elite tennis in the UK. Eastbourne, a quintessential English seaside town on the south coast, 90 minutes from London by train, acts as a tennis sanctuary before the madness of Wimbledon begins the following week — and has done since the tournament began 50 years ago in 1974.
From next year, as part of a shakeup of the British grass-court season, the women’s event will be downgraded from a WTA 500 event to a 250, the lowest rung on the main tour. The UK grass-court 500-level event will instead be played at Queen’s Club in west London, the week before the existing men’s event at the same venue.
This means that far fewer of the top women’s players will be eligible for Eastbourne due to the WTA rules limiting the number of players who can enter 250-level events. Only a maximum of three players ranked between No 1 and No 30 are permitted to play 250s when a more prestigious 500 event is happening simultaneously — with top-10 players only eligible if they are the defending champion or a home player. At this year’s Eastbourne event, for sponsorship reasons known as the Rothesay International, three of the world’s top seven entered, though world No 4 Elena Rybakina pulled out. Last year, it was seven of the world’s top 10.
World No 5 Jessica Pegula on the grass at Eastbourne this year (Charlie Crowhurst / Getty Images for LTA)
Initially, the decision provoked dismay in Eastbourne.
“It is disappointing that not so many top women’s seeds will be at the event from 2025,” said the local MP Caroline Ansell. Eastbourne Chamber of Commerce chief executive Christina Ewbank said the impact on the local economy could be “huge”; the Eastbourne Business Improvement District (BID) said it was “concerned” by the downgrade.
Frustrations have now reduced somewhat. The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) have pointed to the women’s event in Birmingham, which became a 250 a few years ago and saw its ticket sales go up by 12 per cent in the years since, and has also moved to placate the BID over visitor numbers. Ewbank still says it is “a shame” but is more confident that the tournament’s historic prestige will offset the downgrade.
She is instead focused on what the change says about the disparity between London and the rest of the UK when it comes to tennis. She described a “two-tier economy where London becomes ever richer and the rest of the country suffers.”
The LTA insists that the event will not be significantly altered.
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“We remain fully committed to maintaining a combined men’s and women’s tour-level event at Devonshire Park in Eastbourne,” a spokesperson said. “As this month’s WTA event in Nottingham — won by Katie Boulter — has demonstrated, WTA 250 events in Britian deliver strong player fields and draw a lot of media attention. The men’s ATP 250 event at Eastbourne remains unchanged and this year features big names such as Cam Norrie and Taylor Fritz.
The Eastbourne beachfront from the pier (Charlie Eccleshare / The Athletic)
Walking along the front and popping into some of the hotels
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