Expansion Plan for Event Enters Court Tiebreak

Wimbledon fans will have eyes only for the tennis this week, but for those who run the world's oldest and most prestigious Grand Slam, the real high-stakes contest will unfold not on their grass, but in London's Royal Courts of Justice.

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LONDON -

On one side of the legal net is the campaign group Save Wimbledon Park, while facing it in a judicial review of their ambitious expansion plan on July 8 and July 9 will be the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC).

It is the latest stage of a long-running fight that has split the south-west London "village", which has been home to the Championships since 1877.

Last September, the AELTC secured planning permission from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to treble the size of the main site to include 39 new courts, including an 8,000-seat show court, by redeveloping a former golf course on parkland land it already owns.

The £200 million (S$347.7 million) expansion aims to increase daily capacity to 50,000 people from the current 42,000, upgrade facilities and move the qualifying rounds on site to mirror the other Grand Slams - the Australian, French and US Opens.