Website profile: Lawn Tennis Association - August 2005  

Major strides have been made in recent years to grow the number of people playing tennis in the UK, writes Andrew Thomas, commercial manager of the Lawn Tennis Association. In 2004, there was an amazing 58% growth. However, an even tougher nut to crack has been how to encourage a sufficient number of those players to play in tournaments and thus provide a competitive playing base that is large enough to ensure the production of the world-class stars that we all crave.

Since April 2005 the tide has turned, with web technology being at the heart of the solution. Welcome to the LTA’s new National Rankings system, incorporating many of the principles of fantasy league games, only this time it is based on real-life competition and endeavour.
In total, 98,000 unique visitors have navigated the ‘Get On Court’ section of www.LTA.org.uk since April 2005, already accounting for over 45% of all LTA web traffic. They have used the searchable database to plan their next tournament entry, to update their personal details, to view the past performances of their next opponent, and most importantly to see where they are ranked in the country, their county or their particular age group. Updated on a fortnightly basis, this new ranking system is fast delivering the sense of anticipation, inspiration and competition that many players said was missing from the game. It also hopefully provides them with a reason to gloat and lay down challenges to others, the frequent stuff of fantasy leagues!
Since launch, the LTA has seen a 46% increase in the number of active ranked players, and the rate of growth is continuing at 8% per fortnight. When the project is extended in a couple of months to include adult and junior doubles match results, the aim will be to encourage many more of the 450,000 adults who play competitive doubles matches to engage with the system.

Earning points

Players earn rankings points in the same way as players do in the ATP Champions Race, for example. If you win a top Grade 1 event, you get lots of points; if you lose in the early rounds of a lowly Grade 7 event, you don’t!
The revolution has also been felt in a positive way by tournament officials and administrators. After extensive research internationally, the LTA sourced ‘Tennis Tournament Planner’ software from the Netherlands where the system has been successfully operating for a couple of years. Six hundred trained officials are now experiencing dramatic reductions in the time it takes them to accept entries, produce draw sheets and input results. They also now have access to much better management information that allows them, and the LTA centrally, to better adjust the types of tournament run in response to player demand.
As the system grows, so will the commercial opportunities. The title rights to the rankings system are currently being marketed and experience in other countries and sports shows that the sponsor’s name becomes the generic term used by players. Plans for e-mail and SMS alerts to players are also at a progressive stage and this will feature partner messages or acknowledgements. Of paramount appeal to tennis equipment suppliers will be the fact that the system will generate an unrivalled database of committed tennis players with the ability to segment sales messages and offers based on a range of criteria, including their playing ability. The provision of rewards and prizes to players who progress their ranking significantly is also playing a big part in enabling brands to make a lasting connection with their target customer base.

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