Emma Raducanu, Madison Keys and Naomi Osaka set to do battle at Queen’s Club
The returning women’s Queen’s Club Championship will have three Grand Slam winners in the main draw of the WTA 500 tournament.
Following a 52-year absence from the WTA calendar, The Queen’s Club event will return in June and it will have a star-studded field as reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys, former world No 1 Naomi Osaka, 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu and current British No 1 Katie Boulter will feature.
The last women’s edition of the tournament was held in 1973 when Olga Morozova defeated the great Evonne Goolagong in the final.
But there will be a new breed of tennis players competing in London this year with the tournament receiving the prestigious WTA 500 status.
Raducanu and Boulter were always likely to sign up for the biggest women’s tennis event on British soil, but Keys and Osaka’s inclusion is a major coup for the tournament organisers.
Laura Robson, WTA HSBC Championships Tournament Director said: “I’m thrilled to confirm Katie, Emma, Madison and Naomi will be headlining the HSBC Championships in June.
“Fans will see some of the best female players on the planet, and with three Grand Slam champions and the British No 1 in the mix, it promises to be a spectacular return to The Queen’s Club for women’s tennis.”
Keys has won three titles on grass as she lifted Eastbourne trophy in 2014 and 2023 while she also tasted success in Birmingham in 2016.
The American’s star, though, has shone brightly this year as she won the Adelaide International at the start of the season and then went on to win her maiden Grand Slam at the Australian Open.
She surged back into the top 10 of the WTA Rankings after her historic run at Melbourne Park when she took out world No 6 Elena Rybakina, world No 2 Iga Swiatek and defending champion and world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
“I can’t wait for the HSBC Championships,” the current world No 6 said. “Getting to compete there for the first time and experience playing at The Queen’s Club is going to be such a special occasion.
“I love the grass court season, some of my favourite memories of my career have come when I won titles in Birmingham and Eastbourne.”
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Boulter, who has won the Nottingham Open for the past two years, currently sits at No 27 in the rankings while world No 11 Daria Kasatkina, the reigning Eastbourne champion, will also compete at the Queen’s Club event.
“I used to watch the tournament every year growing up so to be able to compete at such a wonderful, historic, and iconic event to commence the grass court season is an honour,” Boulter said.
“We have some of the best women’s players in the world competing at Queens, and it takes the British grass court swing to a whole new level. To win that title as a British player would an absolute dream and I will do everything I can to get myself in that position. Let’s make more history this summer.”
Tickets for the HSBC Championships are now available now via the LTA’s website.
