Some tennis players have been hit by huge price rises at the Nottingham Tennis Centre after the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) took over the courts from Nottingham City Council on May 1. Some are also said to have had their contracts terminated at the venue on University Boulevard, Beeston after missing a deadline to submit their details to the organisation.
In an email sent to members, the tennis centre said they were increasing prices from £70 per year to £41.50 per month. All payments have been switched to the LTA instead of the council and members were asked to confirm their bank details and pay the new rates.
The email on Tuesday, April 19 asked members to complete the new form by Sunday, April 24 to continue using the venue. However, members are saying that their contracts have since been terminated after they missed the quick deadline.
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Tennis player Mike Kruft said he has enjoyed playing at the centre for 15 years on the original contract. He says this has now been terminated.
"The LTA email went to my spam folder so I didn't see it," he said. "The specific outdoor unlimited access membership is a thing of the past and the alternative is a lot more expensive."
The new membership adds a coaching element alongside the option to play. Mike stressed that not everyone wants to take the coaching option and there are no other options available. Players can book to play individual games at £10.50 per hour with their own coach or other players but for regular players, this soon adds up.
"They have made it so it's not a like for like comparison and we have to take out this group coaching membership which gives you an hour per week," he said. "That's where they say the benefit lies but not everyone wants to take that option. I enjoy playing but I don't want to go to a coaching session with 30 other people. It will obviously be by experts to a good standard but it's not for everyone."
The LTA mission statement states they are dedicated to opening up tennis to make it relevant, accessible and welcoming. They also state that they help to develop tennis in Britain including encouraging grassroots participation through to the professional game. Mike says that many players on these contracts will be affected which could include families and younger players looking to enter the sport.
Mike said: "It's such a barrier to entering the sport. There are local tennis clubs where the memberships are around £50 per year at nice country locations but the courts aren't as well surfaced."
An LTA spokesperson said they took over the centre this month after the council announced they needed to find significant financial savings and were looking for a new leaseholder. They have taken on a 150 year lease and the centre is open to the public and community activity will continue to be a core part of its operations.
"We are working hard to ensure the centre is both sustainable in the long term and receives new investment to upgrade the facilities," said the spokesperson.
"Whilst we concluded the old £70 scheme was no longer economically sustainable, we were never-the-less happy to honour it for all existing members.
"All they had to do was to agree to have their data transferred over to a new system during a 6 day window. During this time they received email and text reminders.
"Over 1000 centre users did this and have continued to use the centre since its transfer to the LTA. We are sorry that this member has been affected by the change, but hope they will continue to use the centre’s tennis facilities which we upgrading and investing in to ensure they are some of the best in the country.”
Work includes re-surfacing to the outdoor hard courts, upgrading of outdoor floodlights, new fencing installed around outdoor courts and an upgrade of the existing air bubble covering three courts.
