It is one of the most in demand sporting events in the world, but how do you get tickets for Wimbledon if you do not fancy camping overnight or waiting in queues for hours? If you missed out on seeing Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Co live in action this year, then it is time to turn your attention to next year's tournament. The best bet for getting tickets for Wimbledon 2017 remains the public ballot. It is always oversubscribed therefore entry in the ballet does not entitle applicants to tickets - it only enables them to have a place in the draw. Wimbledon: Team Bath youngster Eden Richardson handed wildcard for junior girls Tennis: Youngster Yusuke Tamaki follows Andy Murray's footsteps in Road to Wimbledon win Wimbledon wildcard for Bath tennis player Anna Smith and women's double partner Jocelyn Rae "It is not possible to request tickets for specific days or courts, as the day and court offered are chosen randomly by a computerised selection process," says the All England Club.
Details for the 2017 ballot will be released once the tournament is over. However, to enter you must request an application form before the middle of December by sending a stamped addressed envelope to: AELTC, PO Box 98, London, SW19 5AE. They can also be collected in person from the club. Once completed, they must be returned to the organisers. The actual draws will take place in early 2017 and the lucky winners will be notified by post. Payment can be made by cheque, although online payments are also accepted. There is a separate ballot for wheelchair tickets, which follows a similar pattern, and an online one for those who live outside the UK. If you miss out on tickets in the ballot again you can always queue and buy tickets during the two-week event. "A limited number of tickets are available daily for Centre Court, No.1 Court and No.2 Court, except for the last four days on Centre Court, when all are sold in advance," according to All England Club. There is also a slim chance of getting a ticket online, with some tickets made available on ticketmaster.co.uk.
Another option for tickets is to go through official tour operators Keith Prowse and Sportsworld, who provide hospitality packages including tickets and hotel accommodation. For more information on how to get tickets for next year's championships, click here.“Two [five-a-side] football pitches the same size as two tennis courts, generates £50,000 a year. Nine tennis courts generates £30,000 a year,” says Steve Riley, founder of Will to Win, the largest provider of public tennis in the UK. “If you charge £8 an hour for a tennis court, if you have 17 sessions a week per court for 35 weeks a year, you make £4,700. A football pitch the same size generates £32,000. So if you are a business person, who in their right mind would build a tennis court?” When Riley started Will to Win in 1995, his vision was to create tennis centres that made the sport affordable and accessible for everyone. By working with local authorities, the Lawn Tennis Association and the Royal Parks, Will to Win now runs 130 courts in Greater London, which represents a quarter of all public tennis courts in the capital.
“I’ve been at the coalface of tennis for the last 20 years,” said Riley. “We have now got 130 courts and I feel as though we’ve gone a long way to developing parks tennis, we hope eventually in Britain, but at the moment it’s just in London. “But we had to diversify or die. It’s not rocket science. We had to expand into football and netball. It’s very easy to rent out a football pitch for £45 an hour. We don’t want to do that but sometimes we have to make those decisions. “There are two key things in our business: a coffee machine and deck. You’ve got to sell coffee. In one of our latest centres, the coffee sales are 500% higher than what we thought they’d be; the tennis sales are up 25%. “Without the coffee we would be in big trouble. We found the best coffee machine and people come just for the coffee. We’re also doing tennis session for dog walkers.” LTA chief executive Michael Downey has made the provision of tennis in parks a priority and Riley believes it is a worthwhile focus.
“Parks are a very important part of the tennis playing market,” says Riley. Stats from 2013 show that 32% of people played tennis in parks, compared with 14% in clubs. The peak is during the summer, particularly during the Championships. My job is to keep those people playing beyond Wimbledon. “We’re getting new players, new venues and enabling them to play tennis for the rest of their lives. A lot of people they come, play and they stay. We thought that they’d join as stepping stone to a club but they like it so they stay.” As a private company running public facilities, Riley is often challenged for charging the public to use the courts, but with councils struggling to operate public facilities with shrinking budgets, he believes working in partnership with local authorities is the best solution. “The perception is that Will to Win is making money from parks tennis and that I’m a multi-millionaire and I’m off to my private yacht,” said Riley. “I’d just tell them to look at Companies House at our accounts.
We are totally transparent in everything we do. “We are a private company but we run public facilities. We turn derelict, useless courts and buildings into beautiful facilities. The two words we don’t have are private and membership. We give back to the community.we get planning permission we build a sporting hub. These things take time. When we took over Ealing there was a squatter living in the building, there were trees growing on the courts and the council messed up the lease. “Should parks tennis be free? The first experience should be free; if kids come along with their parents they can play for free. But not everything has to be free, there has to be a value to it. “We are helping to create new players, sell rackets and balls, build new courts, lessons, we are increasing the tennis business in the UK.”Angela Scott of Warwickshire writes: "A motor accident some years ago left my husband partially paralysed and permanently confined to a wheelchair. "We have modified our existing house, but took the hard-nosed decision to make only a few changes to ensure that the property remained easy to sell.
We now want to move and our next property must be tailored to my husband's long-term needs. "We are financially comfortable and are happy to move to a different area in order to get the right property. We are both under 40 and have a 10-year-old daughter. Despite the obvious problems, we are determined to live as normal a family life as possible. We would prefer a home on one level in a property that appears to everyone, including ourselves, to be conventional. But it must have enough rooms, aids and internal space for my husband to enjoy adequate mobility. "Trawling through estate agents' details and websites is demoralising - there appears to be nothing of this kind on the market. Graham Norwood writes: "There are more than six million people with some form of disability in the UK, so at any one time there are thousands of modified or suitable properties on sale. The problem is, estate agents are loath to advertise them in case able-bodied buyers are deterred by old-fashioned ideas of what constitutes 'disability-friendly features'.
"You should register with all estate agents in the usual way and set out clearly what your requirements are. To avoid confusion it is sensible to use terminology accepted by house builders or firms that modify properties, so if a home on sale is described as 'accessible' or 'adapted' you know what to expect. "'Accessible' homes have off-street or unrestricted on-street parking within 25m of the front door; there will also be no steps between the parking area and the property entrance; there will be access to at least one external door which will be at street level or reached via a ramp; within the property there will also be level access to all the main 'living floor' rooms such as kitchen and living room although it may be that bedrooms will be upstairs; finally, an accessible home will have a toilet on the same level as the entrance or will have a lift to a WC if it is on another floor. "'Adapted' homes contain fixed equipment or adaptations designed to meet the needs of those with physical impairment - a vague phrase that could mean as little as having a handrail next to the bath right up to having lifts, wider hallways, ramped thresholds and electrical fittings moved to arm-height.
"Some agents now use the term 'disabilities-friendly community' to denote an area where nearby shops and facilities like doctor's surgeries are easy to access for those with mobility problems. "If you are having difficulty finding suitable properties, try one of a range of disability-friendly property internet services now emerging. For local authority or housing association properties, consult "For those wanting a private home, a new website, www.mobilityfriendlyhomes.co.uk, is a lifeline. It is a showcase for estate agents across the UK to use for accessible or adapted homes - sometimes the same properties are advertised on the agents' own websites without any reference to their disability-friendly features, but when they are also advertised on the website they reveal the aids. "There are thousands of these properties but they're rarely identified when they're going on sale" says the site's founder, Eastbourne estate agent Mike Reid. "There is also an adapted/ accessible property section on
www.thelittlehousecompany.co.uk, a website that deals with private home sales without going through estate agents. "One other solution is to buy a new or recently built home. Since 2000, developers have been legally obliged to construct homes complying with what industry-jargon calls Part M Building Regulations. "These force builders to make the approach to a property, its entrance and internal doorways and the layout of rooms to be completely accessible for those in wheelchairs or with other severe mobility restrictions. "Part M also obliges developers to put light switches and sockets near mid-points on walls, to fit grab rails in bathrooms, and ensure cookers and ovens are accessible, too." Property one: Accessible modern apartment, disabilities-friendly community. Agent's details: Ground floor three-bedroom apartment with large rooms in this development in the centre of Poundbury, a modern suburb of Dorchester, Dorset. There is comfortable wheelchair access to the property and the surrounding area is predominantly flat.
The masterplan for Poundbury's 400 acres are governed by a building code that ensures car parking is to the rear of homes, in order to encourage easier disability mobility on pavements to street-level new-build cafes, shops and community buildings. Agent: Jackson Stops & Staff, 01305 262123. Property two: Accessible new apartment, mixed community. Agent's details: Cassio Mansions is an apartment complex being built in Watford, which will offer disability access to each of the 101 flats, each of which has an open-plan same-level living area. Lifts run to every floor. On site will be a swimming pool, hydrotherapy spa and gymnasium, all with wheelchair access and disability-friendly changing rooms. Two-bedroom properties begin at £249,000 with larger units going on sale later in the year from £375,000. Service charges are still being calculated to cover communal facilities including a concierge service. Agent: Linden Homes, 01923 229229. Property three: Adapted bungalow, mixed community.