The Nottingham Open is one of the oldest women’s tennis tournaments in the world. Its first edition was held in 1887. However, it was after the advent of the Open Era in 1968 when the tournament had to hustle it’s way to establish itself as a reputed event.
The women’s singles event was held between 1971 to 1973. This was followed by a 37-year hiatus. In 2011, the tournament returned as a part of the International Tennis Federation’s circuit. The outdoor grass court event got an upgrade in 2015, when it became a part of the professional women’s tennis tour. Since then, it has been categorised as a WTA 250 event.
The Nottingham Open features a women’s singles and a women’s doubles event. The qualifying draw for the women’s singles features 24 slots. Out of these, six make it to the main draw and four enter through wild cards. The main draw size of the singles event is 32. The draw size of the doubles event features 16 teams.
A match is played like any other professional tennis match wherein a best of three sets format is followed. A set is won by a player when they win six games with a difference of two. A set score of 6-6 is followed by a tiebreak, where the player who wins seven points with a difference of two points is declared the winner. In doubles, the third set is played as a tiebreaker. The team who is first to ten points with a difference of two points is declared the winner.
The winners and runners-up of both the singles and the doubles events get 250 ranking points and 163 ranking points respectively. As of 2024, the prize pool of the event is $267,082. The winner of the singles event gets $35,250, whereas the winning doubles side gets $12,820.
Katie Boulter is the only player who has won two singles titles at Nottingham ever since the tournament became a part of the professional tour. In doubles, this record is held by Abigail Spears, who has been a part of two chpion doubles side at Nottingham.
