The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is pursuing a significant expansion of its national training centre in Roehampton, southwest London, aiming to create a comprehensive hub for tennis development and elite performance. The proposal involves acquiring the adjacent Bank of England-owned site, currently used for Wimbledon qualifying matches, to build 36 new outdoor courts—equally divided among hard, grass, and clay surfaces.

The planned facility would integrate cutting-edge sports science, medicine, data analytics, technology, and recovery services, alongside a state-of-the-art academy designed to nurture elite junior players. The architectural firm Woo, known for its work on the London 2012 and Paris 2024 Olympics as well as the Nou Camp redesign, has been commissioned to lead the project’s design.

Officials describe the initiative as a hybrid model inspired by St George’s Park, the Football Association’s expansive training complex in Burton Upon Trent that serves all 28 England national teams, and the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, a world-renowned development center for emerging tennis talent.

As part of the plan, the LTA would continue to host Wimbledon qualifying rounds at the Roehampton site until the All England Club completes its own long-delayed expansion into the adjacent Wimbledon Park golf course. Although the All England Club holds a lease on the Roehampton grounds until 2036, its £200 million redevelopment project to move qualifying matches to the main SW19 site has faced ongoing legal challenges.

The Bank of England put the freehold of the Roehampton estate up for sale earlier this year, opening the opportunity for the LTA to expand its footprint. Since relocating its headquarters to Roehampton in 2009, the LTA has seen increased demand driven by the rise of British tennis at the junior and professional levels—Britain currently boasts more male players ranked within the top 250 globally than at any point in the open era. Additionally, the growing popularity of padel has added pressure on the existing facilities, which no longer meet the sport’s performance and development needs.