Emma Raducanu is set to compete at the WTA 500 event at Queen’s (Image: Getty)
The will return to London this summer as the Queen’s Club adds a women’s competition alongside its annual men’s tournament.
The new WTA 500 event will be headed up by tournament director , who has already started trying to entice players, with set to compete.
While Robson has been running into some logistical problems, the retired player is keen to outdo the current best WTA 500 event in Charleston with some clever touches.
“It’s a new event. You never know how it’s going to go, but we’re really lucky to have the combination of the men’s alongside it,” the new Queen’s tournament director said.
The WTA competition will be staged the week before the ATP 500, meaning regular members at the Queen’s Club have had to give up more time and access – something that’s been challenging.
Robson continued: “The logistics are very hard because it’s a member’s club, so they are used to still having a lot of their own spaces when the tournament is still on.
“And we’ve taken over the women’s dressing room for the first time, which was harder than you think to get over the line.
“And it’s a small club, so the space on site, it is what it is. You can’t have more than what we already have. So I think it’s just managing how many people are on-site at any given time in the players’ area.”
Laura Robson will head up the WTA event at Queen’s after being the Nottingham tournament director (Image: Getty)
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However, Robson says there haven’t been any “issues”. She explained: “I think it’s just a learning experience for everyone involved.
“You’re taking over someone’s club, for now it’s going to be an additional month basically of build up.
“It’s a very short buildout time anyway that they have because they like to give the members as long as possible on the courts and to be able to use all the facilities. So the least sort of damage that you can do the best.”
Robson is also trying to entice players to sign up for the tournament. The tournament is in an awkward spot, held the week after the French Open, meaning those who go deep in Paris likely won’t want to play.
However, the 31-year-old already has Raducanu and on board, and says she’s always having conversations with other potential competitors.
“A lot of people leave it late depending on how they do in Paris and whether they want to go home first,” she said.
“But I think if you are planning the ideal schedule, that’s a great week to play. You’ve got a brand new tournament, it’s a 500 and it’s on the most perfect grass courts that you can play on. So that’s how I’m selling it to a lot of the players.”
The men’s offering at Queen’s is consistently voted the best ATP 500 event, and Robson is now keen to give the women’s tournament the same billing.
“At the moment the WTA favourite 500 is Charleston, so as long as I can do better than them! That’s voted firm favourite,” the tournament director laughed.
“Weirdly it’s small little things like gifting every day and practice court availability, and there’s small little variables that you can try and keep players happy with, so that’s my number one.”
The Queen’s Club already hosts an ATP 500 tournament (Image: Getty)
Aged just 31, Robson already has tournament director experience. She headed up the Nottingham Open for the last two years – a WTA 250 and ATP Challenger event.
It was a baptism by fire in 2023 when signed up for the Challenger tournament and tournament bosses had to scramble to get his matches put on the bigger courts. And Robson believes the stressful scheduling in Nottingham has left her prepared to deal with any problems at Queen’s.
“There was one year where Andy came and played Nottingham and ended up winning it,” she explained.
“But on the match schedule plan that TV gets months and months beforehand, the men’s semi-final was meant to be on the outside court, because of the fact that it’s the WTA [Tour] versus an ATP Challenger.
“So we had huge scheduling issues with that and that was two years ago. [It went] all the way up to WTA TV, trying to get different cameras involved, making sure that everyone had what they needed.
“So as long as it’s not that stressful, I’ll be okay.”
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