“I love this tournament, I love what they’ve done with it, but I do not love what they’re developing it into,” said Jonathan Pinkess on day five of Wimbledon. Standing in the morning sun, handing out flyers against the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s expansion plans, he is one of many local residents who fear the championship will usurp local green space.
To ensure Wimbledon maintains its pre-eminence on the tennis circuit, the AELTC has plans to develop a further 39 courts, including an 8,000-seat show court, on the grounds of the old Wimbledon Park golf club. Local opposition, however, has long questioned why the “industrial-scale development” is needed.
