LTA puts Queen's Club up for sale

The Lawn Tennis Association, the governing body of British tennis, has put London's historic Queen's Club up for sale, it said yesterday.

The sale is a 120-year lease. The LTA is relocating its headquarters by early 2007 to its new state-of-the-art tennis academy, the National Tennis Centre, currently under construction in Roehampton.

The club will be sold on the basis that it will retain a rackets club and that the Stella Artois Championships or any future tournament remains unaffected.

"Moving to our new National Tennis Centre is an integral part of our plans for finding and developing future British tennis champions," said LTA chief executive John Crowther.

The proceeds of the sale will be re-invested in the long-term development of British tennis.

Queen's boasts 29 outdoor courts - of which 13 are among the finest grass courts in the world. It also has 10 indoor lawn tennis courts, two real tennis courts, two rackets courts, three squash courts, a gymnasium and a physiotherapy suite.