12 May 2020

Local Tennis Leagues is now an official part of the LTA vision for the future of tennis in Britain

As the rounds begin again, exciting news from the founders of Local Tennis Leagues. The grassroots movement you have helped build has been acquired by the LTA, the governing body of tennis in Great Britain.

In the spring of 2005 on the then rather run-down courts on Highbury Fields, north London, the very first Local Tennis Leagues match was played. Who would have thought then that the dozen or so players who made up the two groups (we called them group McEnroe and group Borg) would inspire a nationwide network of local leagues?

Now, fifteen years on, it is time for the leagues’ founders, Sally Kinnes and Nigel Billen, to hand the batten – or should that be tennis racket – on.

Sally Kinnes and Nigel Billen

A few weeks ago, we finalised the sale of Local Tennis Leagues Ltd to the LTA, the governing body of tennis in Great Britain. The sale was negotiated and completed before the Coronavirus pandemic hit the country and stopped us playing, but the timing of the sale means that Local Tennis Leagues can face the relaunch with confidence.

“I have to admit I shed a tear when the sale was finally completed,” says Sally

“The leagues, our players and the hundreds of partner venues we have worked with feel like family. Together we have survived the struggling early years and built an astonishing grassroots tennis movement. We wanted to make ‘friendly competitive tennis on a court near you’ a reality for as many adult players as we could. Thanks to you, it is a dream that has come true for more people than we could have dared hope for.”

Scott Lloyd, chief executive of the LTA says, “Our acquisition of Local Tennis Leagues, with the success it has already achieved in building a broad base of players and connections to local tennis organisations, aligns perfectly with our ongoing work to make tennis more accessible and open the sport up to new audiences. We know that offering local, fun and social competitive opportunities like those provided by Local Tennis Leagues at grass roots level, is a great way to encourage people to play more regularly. More broadly, we want to get more people playing on park courts, which provide a fantastic opportunity for people to get involved in tennis in their local community.”

For now, it is business as usual for the leagues as Sally, Nigel and the expanded team work hard with you to get the leagues started again, but we will have further updates about the future of LTL in the weeks to come (we have a FAQ section about the sale here.)