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, tournament gives players an opportunity to follow in their heroes footsteps and compete for the title at Wimbledon.
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 Area Finals, and then onto the National Finals at Wimbledon.
Venue Stage – For players that want to compete in a fun, Wimbledon-inspired competition with other players from your local area.
County / Area Finals - Venue stage winners progress through to this stage to compete against winners from other venues in their area.
Disability (Wheelchair, Visually Impaired & Learning Disability) – Players can compete in selected regional series events, with the winners progressing to the National Finals.
National Finals - Hosted at the AELTC, winners from each County / Area Final come together to compete for the PYWTW title.
ITF World Tennis Number Update
In July 2023, the ITF made important improvements to the World Tennis Number calculation, to help ensure that player ratings continue to be as accurate as possible.
In alignment with these updates the WTN required to compete in Play Your Way to Wimbledon has shifted to ensure the same standard of players are eligible for the competition.
All players must have a WTN between 23.0 and 40.9, singles and/or doubles, at the time of the venue stage event they are competing in.
The principles behind the ITF World Tennis Number calculation and the most Frequently Asked Questions about the change are available here.
All players must have an LTA Advantage membership number and an ITF World Tennis Number between 23.0 and 40.9 at the time of the event they're competing in. A player’s singles ITF World Tennis Number will be used for the singles pathway and player's doubles ITF World Tennis Number will be used for the doubles pathway.
Once a player has won a venue stage event, they automatically qualify for the County Finals (singles) or Area Finals (doubles) and should no longer compete in another venue stage event in the relevant pathway.
Junior players can enter the singles and/or doubles pathway for the Play Your Way to Wimbledon tournament, with separate competitions for boys and girls. However, players will only be able to compete in one event at the National Finals i.e. if they make it through to the National Finals in both the singles and doubles, they will need to decide which one they compete in, and withdraw from the other (this will impact their partner if they withdraw from the doubles).
Play Your Way to Wimbledon Singles (Juniors)
- Any junior player under the age of 14 and born between 2010 and 2013 can enter.
- Players can only enter a competition in their play county, for example, 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/pupil at is hosting an event. This would only be relevant if a player lives in a different county to the venue they are a member/pupil at.
Play Your Way to Wimbledon Doubles (Juniors)
- Any junior player under the age of 18 and born between 2006 and 2013 can enter.
- 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 only exception to this is if the LTA Registered Venue the player is a member/pupil at is hosting an event. This would only be relevant if a player lives in a different county to the venue they are a member/pupil at.
Play Your Way to Wimbledon Doubles (Adults)
- Any adult player over the age of 19 and born before 2005 can enter.
- 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 only exception to this is if the LTA Registered Venue the player is a member/student at is hosting an event. This would only be relevant if a player lives in a different county to the venue they are a member/student at.
Play Your Way To Wimbledon Disability (Open)
- Any player eligible for open competition can take part in one of the selected open Regional Series events.
- If you believe you are eligible for these events please contact disabilitycompetitions@lta.org.uk to confirm eligibility criteria.
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 13 and 14 July 2024, however, some County Finals may take place before this date (County Finals in Scotland will take place on 15 and 16 June 2024).
County Final champions are then invited to compete in the National Finals at Wimbledon from 11-17 August 2024.
Play Your Way to Wimbledon Doubles Pathway
Competitions are hosted at any LTA registered venues, as well as Schools (juniors only) 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 Area Finals – with the majority of which taking place on 22 and 23 June 2024.
Regional Final champions are then invited to compete in the National Finals at Wimbledon from 11-17 August 2024.
Play Your Way To Wimbledon Disability Pathway
Competitions are hosted as part of Regional Series Tournament (singles) held between January – May 2024.
There are 2 – 4 Regional Series Tournaments take place prior to the Finals for players to compete in across the following categories: Wheelchair (men’s and women’s), Visually Impaired (men’s and women’s, B1, B2, B3, B4-B5 categories) and Learning Disability (mixed) events.
The Winners and Runners Up from each event are then invited to compete in the National Finals at Wimbledon from 11-17 August 2024.
- Player entry will be on a first come, first served basis.
- There must be a minimum of 3 players/pairs in the venue stage for the winner(s) to be eligible for the next stage of the competition.
- All players must have an ITF World Tennis Number between 23.0 and 40.9 at the time of the venue stage event they are competing in.
- Junior players are eligible to play in both the singles and/or doubles pathway. However, players will only be able to compete in one event at the National Finals. i.e. If they qualify for the singles and doubles, they will need to decide which one they compete in and withdraw from the other.
- If two players pair up and one of the players subsequently withdraws or is unable to take part in the next stage of the competition, the whole pair are withdrawn from the event (reserve players may not come in to make up a pair).
- Any players that have previously received any professional tennis ranking points are not eligible to take part.
For a full list of rules and further information, see the organiser guide below, under the resources tab.
The majority of County Finals will be played on the weekend of 13 and 14 July, however, several County Finals will be played before this date. Please note, County Finals in Scotland will be played over the weekend of 15 and 16 June. You can view the dates and venues for singles below:
Junior singles calendar – Dates to be published in March 2024.
Area Finals will be taking place over the weekend of 22 and 23 June.
Junior doubles calendar – Dates to be published in March 2024.
Adult doubles calendar – Dates to be published in March 2024.
Play Your Way to Wimbledon National Finals take place at Wimbledon from 11-17 August 2024.
Events will run from 2 March – 26 May 2024. Venues have until 4 February 2024 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 your 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:
View previous winners here.
2024 venue sign up is now open
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 during the competition period.
- Venues can run singles and/or doubles events for boys, girls, men, women or all.
- 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 a 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 2 March – 26 May 2024.
- Venues must publish or enter the event by 4 February 2024 and will receive a venue pack w/c 26 February 2024.
Venue Quick Start Guide - How to create an Open event online