Play Your Way to Wimbledon, powered by Vodafone
Ever dreamt of playing on the famous grass courts of Wimbledon? Who hasn’t!
The Play Your Way to Wimbledon, powered by Vodafone, junior tournament (previously called Road to Wimbledon) gives most players under the age of 18, an opportunity to follow in their heroes footsteps and compete for the title at Wimbledon.
The LTA is proud to be working with Vodafone and the AELTC to relaunch and expand the largest individual mass participation tennis competition in the UK, Play Your Way to Wimbledon, powered by Vodafone. From 2023, the LTA and the AELTC are planning for the competition to expand further with the introduction of additional age groups and disability categories, which Vodafone is proud to support.
Players start by competing locally at an event taking place at a local club, park or school with the winners progressing through to the County and/or Regional Finals, and then onto the National Finals at Wimbledon.
New for 2022, there are two Play Your Way To Wimbledon junior pathways:
- Play Your Way To Wimbledon Singles (ages 11-14)
- Play Your Way To Wimbledon Doubles (ages 11-18)
Enter now
To enter a Play Your Way To Wimbledon tournament sign up to LTA Advantage and click the link below to find a competition near you.
Players can enter into both the singles and/or doubles pathway, with separate competitions for boys and girls.
They must have an LTA Advantage membership number and an ITF World Tennis Number between 20.0 and 40.9 at the time of the event they're competing in. A players singles and doubles ITF World Tennis Number will be used for the relevant pathway.
Once a player has won a venue stage event they automatically qualify for the county finals (singles) or regional finals (doubles).
Play Your Way To Wimbledon Singles
- Any junior player under the age of 14 and born between 2008 and 2011 can enter.
- Players can only enter a competition in their play county, e.g. if they play in Yorkshire, they can only enter a Play Your Way To Wimbledon event in Yorkshire.
- The only exception to this is if the LTA Registered Venue the player is a member at is hosting an event. This would only be relevant if a player lives in a county over the border from the venue they are a member at.
Play Your Way To Wimbledon Doubles
- Any junior player under the age of 18 and born between 2004 and 2011 can enter.
- Players can pair up with any other eligible player within their region, as per the counties outlined in the table below.
- One of the players from a pair must be from that play county at an event, e.g. if there is an event taking place at a Yorkshire venue, one of the players from the doubles pair must have a play county of Yorkshire. The other player in the pair must have a play county from one of the other North counties as per the below.
Play regions
|
Play Region |
For players in play counties |
|
East |
Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Oxfordshire or Suffolk |
|
Midlands
|
Derbyshire, Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire or Warwickshire |
|
North
|
Cheshire, Cumbria, Durham & Cleveland, Isle of Man, Lancashire, Northumberland, North Wales or Yorkshire |
|
Scotland |
Scotland North, South, East or West |
|
South East |
Kent, Middlesex, Surrey or Sussex
|
|
South West |
Avon, Channel Isles, Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Hampshire & IOW, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, South Wales or Wiltshire |
Play Your Way To Wimbledon Singles Pathway
Play Your Way To Wimbledon Singles Pathway competitions are hosted at any LTA registered venues, as well as Schools in England, Scotland, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
The venue can choose the match format, which can be anything from tie-break sets to shorter formats such as Fast4 or Timed Tennis.
The winners of these local events will then go through to their County Finals – with the majority taking place on 9 and 10 July 2022, however, some County Finals may take place before this date (County Finals in Scotland will take place on 18 and 19 June 2022).
County Final champions are then invited to compete in the National Finals at Wimbledon from 7-13 August.
Play Your Way To Wimbledon Doubles Pathway
Competitions are hosted at any LTA registered venues, as well as Schools in England, Scotland, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
The venue can choose the match format, which can be anything from tie-break sets to shorter formats such as Fast4 or Timed Tennis.
The winners of these local events will then go through to their Regional Finals – all of which are taking place on 18 and 19 June 2022 (Regional Finals in Scotland will take place on 2 and 3 July 2022).
Regional Final champions are then invited to compete in the National Finals at Wimbledon from 7 - 13 August.
Venue stage events will take place from 1 March – 5 June 2022
The majority of County Finals will be played on the weekend of 9–10 July, however, several County Finals will be played before this date. Please note, County Finals in Scotland will be played over the weekend of 18–19 June.
View the 2022 County Finals (singles) dates and venues here
Regional Finals will be taking place over the weekend of 18-19 June, the Scotland Regional Finals will be taking place over the weekend of 2-3 July. Over all weekends, the boys event will take place on the Saturday and the girls event will take place on the Sunday.
View the 2022 Regional Finals (doubles) dates and venues here
Play Your Way to Wimbledon National Finals take place at Wimbledon from 7 – 13 August 2022
Events will run from 1 March – 5 June. Venues have until 17th April to apply to run an event, therefore, the majority of events taking place may not appear until after this date.
- Sign up to Advantage to get your ITF World Tennis Number.
- Search for your next tournament here.
- Select which event you want to enter.
- Complete the online entry process.
- Then you’re all set and ready to go – it’s that easy.
Speak to you local venue to find out if they are hosting an event or find and enter a Play Your Way To Wimbledon event near you here:
All results from Play Your Way To Wimbledon matches will go towards improving your ITF World Tennis Number.
You can find and follow all the draws, scores and results from Play Your Way To Wimbledon here:
All venues hosting a Play Your Way To Wimbledon competition must be LTA registered venues (clubs, parks & schools).
Venues can run an ‘Open’ event for all eligible players to enter by creating their event on the Competition Management System (CMS) or a ‘Closed’ event for members only. We strongly encourage all venues to run ‘Open’ events, to allow local players the opportunity to compete in the event.
Details
- Venues can run a maximum of one ‘Open’ event and/or one ‘Closed’ event at their venue during the competition period
- Venues can run Singles and/or Doubles events for boys, girls or both
- All events run by venues must be open to all eligible players
- Organisers can choose a format relevant to their venue, however, we recommend delivering the event over half or one day using an quicker format, such as fast4
- Player entry will be on a first come first served basis
- All venue stage events will be Grade 6 if ‘Open’ and Grade 7 if ‘Closed’
- Venue events must take place between 1 March – 5 June 2022
- Venues that publish or enter the event by 20 March will receive a venue pack w/c 28 March
- Venues that publish or enter the event by 17 April will receive a venue pack w/c 25 April
- Venue sign up for 2022 has now closed
Venue Entry Flyer (Clubs & Parks)
Venue Quick Start Guide - How to create an Open event online
View previous winners here
Benefits for Organisers:
- Receive a free organiser pack to help you stage your event
- The winner (and possibly the runner-up) of your event to represent your venue at the County Finals
- The organiser (and guest) invited to Wimbledon to watch the National Finals in August
Benefits for Players:
- Compete in a fun, social competition with the opportunity to qualify for your County or Regional Finals and then progress to play in the National Finals on the grass courts at Wimbledon
- Be part of the biggest tennis tournament in the UK
- All players receive a Wimbledon certificate and prize for competing in a venue event
- Fantastic prizes on offer at the National Finals