The Aegon Open, held in Nottingham, is one of the grass court events held in the lead up to Wimbledon. A WTA women’s international tournament was held from 6-14 June and a men’s ATP World Tour 250 tournament is currently in progress, running from 20-27 June.
I attended the men’s quarterfinals on 25 June. It was a fan-tastic experience with perfect weather, quality tennis, friendly volunteers and easy to access venue. I recommend going if you get a chance, especially if there’s no chance of rain!
Centre Court
I haven’t been able to find the capacity of Centre Court but you can see from the photos below how many seats are available. The crowd was good, enjoying the quality points and not subjecting us to chatter or moving to and from seats at inappropriate times that can happen at other tournaments. We had seats in the sixth row of the North Stand which were really close to the court. The sixth row is actually the back row and this is a great seat to choose if you’d like some shade later in the afternoon. They were good seats in terms of being close to the court but there was a lack of leg room.
Ticket Prices were reasonable, quarterfinals cost us around 25 pounds each and the highest price was 45 pounds for the final if purchased on the day.
There are also four outside courts which were in use for doubles, and for matches earlier in the week. The practice courts are easy to find and access.
Court 1
Baghdatis smiling after his quarterfinal win
Simon thanking the crowd after his quarterfinal loss
View more photos of the men in action during their quarterfinals.
Dusting off the lines
And making them white again
The Grounds
We took a train to Nottingham and a taxi to the grounds cost around 6.50 GBP. A lot of people drive there so there was a long queue to get into the car park prior to the start of play. When leaving the grounds there was no taxi rank so we easily found a bus stop and got a bus back to the station for 2 GBP each. Read more about getting to the Nottingham Tennis Centre.
Upon entering the grounds we were given a copy of the schedule of play and the draw, which I thought was a nice touch. Another nice touch was the announcer sharing information about the players when he introduced them, from their favourite shot, to tidbits about their family, what they like and who they admire.
The grounds are really, clean and tidy and beautifully decorated with flower boxes. As it’s a big venue with plenty of space so you don’t get that feeling of being crowded in amongst the other spectators. There’s a lot of inside and outside seating if you want to have a break from watching matches, and variety of food and drink options were available. You’re also able to bring in your own food, snacks and drinks and there was no bag check at the entrance.
The Corporate Area
Sponsor booths
Undercover and outside seating for spectators near food and drink outlets
Outside seating covered by umbrellas
The tournament has a really friendly vibe and everyone that we spoke to was incredibly helpful. There were loads of kids playing tennis and having a hit up on the non tournament courts, which added to the atmosphere. Overall it was a really enjoyable fan experience.
I hope to go back in the future.
Until next time
Grand Slam Gal