Nine Brits confirmed for cinch Championships this summer
Nine British stars have confirmed they will be competing in the cinch Championships at London’s Queen’s Club next month with Andy Murray, Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans, Jack Draper, Joe Salisbury, Neal Skupski, Jamie Murray, Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid among the homegrown heroes confirming their entries.
What is more impressive is six of these players have combined for a tally of 40 titles across the sport’s four major events and they will put their talents on display at lawns of the Queens Club starting 13 June.
In the singles event at the cinch Championships, three-time major champion and former world No.1 Murray will return to the Queen’s Club, where he has won six ATP Tour titles including a record-breaking five singles wins and a doubles success with Feliciano Lopez in 2019.
Murray, who has won eight ATP singles tournaments on grass courts including two wins at Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, will play at the Queen’s Club after being awarded a wild card and he will also be competing in the ATP Challenger event at the Surbiton Trophy, which gets underway on 29 May.
“I’m really looking forward to playing at Surbiton and Queen’s this year – two great events,” said Murray. “It’s always special playing on the grass in front of a home crowd.”
British No.1 Norrie will be back at the cinch Championships, with the 26-year-old enjoying a stellar year since his run to the final of last year’s tournament at the Queen’s Club. His achievements included a win at the Indian Wells Masters in October that contributed to him breaking into the top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time in his career.
Evans, 31, will look to build on his run to the quarter-finals at the cinch Championships last year, while Draper, 20, will be in the spotlight after he also made it through to the last eight at the Queen’s Club last year.
Draper, 20, has also been awarded a wild card into the cinch Championships after he made it through to the last eight at the Queen’s Club last year, with his fine form in the first half of 2022 highlighted by four tournament wins on the ATP Challenger Tour and encouraging performances in the ATP 1000 events in Miami and Madrid that have pushed him close to the top 100 in the rankings.
Tickets are still available for the cinch Championships and all of the LTA’s grass court summer events here:
The British success stories have continued to flow on the doubles court, with two-time major Joe Salisbury rising to No.1 in the ATP rankings in last month, while Neal Skupski is also enjoying a fine year after his win at the Miami Masters moved him to the top of the ATP Race rankings with his Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof.
Seven-time major doubles champion Jamie Murray will also return to the Queen’s Club looking to add to his success in the 2017 Queen’s Club final, where he lifted the trophy alongside partner Bruno Soares.
The all-star British cast list would not be complete without our relentlessly successful wheelchair stars, with Alfie Hewett taking his major title haul to 19 as he won the Australian Open doubles in January, with his long-term doubles partner Gordon Reid boasting 20 wins in the game’s four marquee events.
Leon Smith, Head of Men’s Tennis at the LTA and David Cup captain, said: “To see so many of our British players thriving at the top of the game highlights the progress our sport has made in recent years and it will be fantastic to see so many of them taking to the grass courts for the LTA’s summer events.
“In a year that has seen Cam Norrie break into the top ten of the ATP rankings, Dan Evans and Andy Murray serve up some great performances, Joe Salisbury rise to No.1 spot in the doubles rankings, Neal Skupski win his first ATP 1000 event and Jack Draper continues to make such great progress, there is so much to look forward to this summer in our grass courts events leading into Wimbledon.”
The A-list British entry list for the cinch Championships adds to a high-quality field that will also include current world Top 10 stars Carlos Alcaraz (2022 Miami Open and Madrid Open champion), defending Queen’s Club champion Matteo Berrettini, and rapidly improving Casper Ruud, along with 2021 Wimbledon semi-finalist Denis Shapovalov and 2022 Indian Wells winner Taylor Fritz.
Stan Wawrinka who has won every major singles title bar Wimbledon, will also be making a welcome return to the event, which sees nine of the world’s Top 20 and 15 of the Top 30 expected to compete this year.