Tennis monopoly in Merton attracts volleys of furious complaints

By Harrison Galliven, Local Democracy Reporter

Tennis coaches across Merton have said they fear for their livelihoods after the council decided to award all contracts for providing lessons to one provider.

Coaches believe Merton council has ‘deprived people’ of a choice by selecting one business to provide coaching for the whole borough.

Many Wimbledon residents, who now stand to lose their long-time coaches as a result, say the council has been ‘unfair’ and ‘non-transparent’ to local businesses in the process.

The decision has attracted a groundswell of opposition – including from the Wimbledon MP – and a near 1,000-strong petition.

Merton council recently launched a tender for a borough-wide tennis coaching contract, that would see one company responsible for official coaching on the borough’s 51 council-owned tennis courts.

According to Wimbledon based coaches, this original tender did not cover courts 1-10 in Wimbledon Park, which were recently upgraded with Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) money alongside all of the other courts in the borough.

The LTA, which gets a lot of its funding from the All England Lawn Tennis Club, also sought to make the Wimbledon Park courts the only floodlit courts in the borough. As a result, they are among the most popular.

Soon after the tender was launched, the council announced that Merton-based coaching provider Emma Wells Tennis had won the contract to provide services across the borough. This decision would mean the company would be the sole, council-backed, provider of tennis coaching on all the borough’s courts.

However, according to Wimbledon Park councillor Tony Reiss, it was soon revealed that the tender would in fact include courts 1-10, where many coaches had operated their businesses for years.

Coaches, like Steve Cockell of Live, Love Sport, who has operated on those courts for eight years, says the tender decision has effectively created a monopoly in the borough, and is denying residents the chance to choose a coach that suits their level and ability. He also now fears the decision will threaten his business.

Merton council said: “We sought a professional coaching company to provide coaching and run the courts on our behalf – for an income that will be put back into the courts to ensure they stay well maintained. In addition, a stipulation of the LTA grant was an annual £65,000 fund to pay for future court upgrades and refurbishment.

“The council underwent an open and competitive tender process to find the best company to do this – and, importantly, to also make sure the coaching was of the very best quality, price and to the highest safeguarding standards.

“The contract was awarded to Tennis in Merton – previously Emma Wells Tennis. Emma is a renowned coach. We understand that the contract means other coaches, who have been using the courts to run their businesses, may feel upset.”

Mr Cockell said that coaches who operated on those courts deliberately did not enter the tender as they thought their courts would not be impacted. Now, he says, the coaches will only be able to provide their services on the Wimbledon Park courts until March 2025.

A petition calling for a reversal of the decision on Change.org has attracted numerous angry comments from tennis fans across the borough.  The petition reads: “The decision treats local businesses extremely unfairly, in a way which we simply cannot support.

“Other local tennis coaches have been successfully coaching in Wimbledon Park for, in some cases, decades and have now had their livelihoods summarily taken away from them.”

One commenter, Heather McColm, said: “Public tennis courts should not be allocated to a single coaching business. Members of the community should be free to use public courts as they wish, including with whichever coach they wish.”

A spokesman for the local authority said: “All qualified coaches can – and are encouraged – to apply to work under Tennis in Merton. From now on, all commercial activities must be conducted under the Tennis in Merton umbrella, and independent coaching is no longer permitted.

“Residents can still book our courts for free or low-cost, and our facilities will continue to host a range of activities to support people of all ages to enjoy tennis.”

Pictured top: The Wimbledon Park Courts 1-10 recently received an LTA funded upgrade and are now the only floodlit courts in the borough (Picture: David Howard)