Robson honoured to bring womens game back to Queens

Laura Robson is tournament director for the first womens event at Queens for more than 50 years

Former British number one Laura Robson says it is a "huge honour" to welcome womens professional tennis back to Queens for the first time in more than 50 years.

The iconic London venue will host a womens tournament for the first time since 1973 in the lead up to Wimbledon this year.

Australian Open champion Madison Keys, four-time major winner Naomi Osaka, current British number one Katie Boulter and 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu have all been confirmed to play in the June event.

Reigning Eastbourne champion Daria Kasatkina is the fifth name to have been revealed on Tuesday, with more to come in the future.

Robson, who reached a career high ranking of 27 in 2013 and retired in 2022, has been appointed tournament director.

"I first remember coming to Queens as a 10-year-old and watching the mens event, so now to have womens tennis back in London for the first time in 50 years and have the line-up that we do, its a massive honour and I cant wait to get it going," Robson told BBC Sport.

Australian Open winner Madison Keys will compete at the event in the run-up to Wimbledon

The womens event at Queens ceased in 1973, with the Eastbourne tournament founded the following year and becoming a fixture of the womens grass court season.

The revived Queens will run as a WTA 500 tournament and as part of a two-week event with the traditional mens competition.

Unlike Wimbledon, which has awarded prize money equally between its mens and womens draws since 2007, the mens tournament will have a substantially higher prize pot of $2.5m (£2.1m), than the $1.1m (£0.9m) available to the women.

This is set by the Womens Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tours and applies to all their 500 level events.

"The LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) definitely would love to hit that marker well before the WTA Tour but to do that we need a successful event, we need people to come and watch and to get excited about it," Robson, who has also worked as tournament director at Nottingham, said.

"It doesnt start at all or nothing. We have to build the way that the tournaments run and eventually get to that marker of equal prize money but its something Im all for as a former player."

Robson says she hopes the event will bring new audiences to the sport

Former Wimbledon girls champion Robson hopes the tournament will give the sport an opportunity to reach new audiences, with tickets to the womens event priced cheaper than those for the mens.

"The chance to have a womens event in London, new faces coming in, new audiences, new commercial opportunities, hopefully it gets a huge reach and grows the womens game even more and we begin that history that the mens event has," she said.

Robson added part of her role as tournament director had been to use her relationships with the players to get them on board, and those already committed "had not needed much convincing".

"The players are excited about this event, the LTA are excited and the club is as well," she added.

"In my mind its certainly something that can build year on year and we see it hopefully being as prestigious as the mens event in the history that it has and what we can bring to the womens game."

Russias Olga Morozova won the last womens singles title at Queens in 1973