Exclusive: ‘Britain needs more indoor courts,’ explains senior LTA figure unveiling plans for 40 new covered-court facilities

The shortage of indoor tennis courts in Great Britain has long been a source of frustration for players, coaches, clubs and commercial operators alike. With participation consistently impacted by weather, rising demand for year-round play and the rapid growth of padel, the lack of covered facilities has become one of the biggest structural challenges facing the sport. Compared with many European neighbours, the UK’s indoor provision lags significantly behind — and the gap shows no sign of closing without coordinated action and investment.

Few people are better placed to address this issue than Tom Gibbins. As Head of Programme & Property Strategy, Gibbins oversees national participation programmes, facility investment and technical support, as well as the LTA’s official charity. With a career that began on court as a tennis coach before moving into strategic and operational leadership, he brings both grassroots and boardroom perspectives to the conversation.

In this interview, Racket Business speaks to Gibbins about why indoor tennis and padel facilities matter so much in the UK, the historical and financial reasons behind the current shortfall, and what is being done — with government, local authorities and the commercial sector — to finally address decades of underinvestment and unlock sustainable growth for the sport.

Please tell us about your background in sport and your current role at the LTA?

“I was a tennis coach for the first few years of my career, working in clubs, parks and schools in Warwickshire. I then spent a few years working freelance for a number of organisations in sport, charities and events and joined, what was then The Tennis Foundation, in 2008 and then the LTA fully in 2019.

“My role now involves looking after three areas: our Programmes team which manages the our strategy to attract and retain more children and adults in our sport, our Property Team, which looks at both our investment into facilities and the technical advice that supports all that and finally I look after our official charity, the LTA Tennis Foundation.”

Why are indoor tennis and padel facilities so important in the UK?

“We know that ‘the weather not being good enough’ is one of the main barriers to participation for those who don’t already play tennis. There are currently around 150 days of rainfall in the UK per year and climate change means this is increasing, as are extreme UV levels at the other end of the spectrum.

“We also know that those who already play tennis regularly, play significantly more in the summer vs winter, with one in three people who currently play mentioning weather, or not having somewhere to play indoors, as being the reasons why they don’t play more often.”

As you’re all too aware, the UK is well behind other European countries in terms of the number of indoor tennis courts we have. Do you have any historical background as to why this is the case?

“Firstly, we agree with you that there aren’t enough indoor courts in Great Britain. We have 1,600 indoor or covered courts and we know this falls behind other comparable countries. For example, France with a similar population and probably a better climate, has over 9,000.

“Sports facilities here are not usually funded directly by central government as a statutory service, whereas they are in many other countries across Europe. Therefore responsibility falls to Local Authorities and private developers. Europe, varies by country but broadly, sport is treated as a core public service, with National / Regional governments directly funding sports facilities.

“Building new indoor tennis courts is extremely expensive and it always has been. However, the costs have skyrocketed more recently. Before COVID, a 3 court indoor centre would have cost around £1.5m, that cost is now closer to £4m.  

“Partners now have less, or in many cases, no funding to contribute to projects. Local Authorities, who historically often acted as co-funders, have seen massive reductions in their reserves and facility budgets – other, national funders are similar.

“Whilst changes are being talked about, planning regulations have been and do remain very challenging and time consuming, particularly for indoor projects, which has significantly slowed the pace of progress in many individual cases.”

When it comes to indoor tennis and padel facilities in the UK, what is the LTA’s ongoing strategy to address the lack of investment and help build new indoor courts?

“One of our highest priorities at the moment is securing investment to support an innovative, covered tennis and padel scheme. The recent Park Investment Project saw more than 3,000 unplayable or poor condition public park courts transformed, through £45m funding from the UK Government, LTA Tennis Foundation and other local partners. We’re now using this successfully delivered project as a platform through, almost daily, engagement with the UK Government, to ensure tennis secures as high a proportion as possible of their £400m community sports facilities fund, the majority of which has previously been allocated to football. The innovation of covering existing tennis courts with canopies, including Padel and multi sport community facilities as well, means it is a much more cost effective and realistic option.

“In addition to this potential major piece of work, we are also engaging with a number of house building companies, to include tennis facilities as part of new housing developments and Section 106 funding, where they have to invest in the local infrastructure. There are half a dozen of these projects in the pipeline, but one has been in planning for seven years now, which demonstrates these type of projects often move very slowly and are rarely fully in our gift to control. 

“Since 2019, we have part-funded 30 indoor or covered tennis courts across Great Britain through the Facility Loan Scheme and a specific scheme in Scotland, in partnership with the Scottish Government. We welcome expressions of interest from tennis clubs and other organisations for indoor or covered tennis projects and we have a number that are currently in planning.”

Are you able to commit to a number of facilities or a financial figure in terms of future investment in indoor tennis in England?

“Linked to the above work with the UK Government, we’ve done some detailed analysis looking at demand and gaps across the country, which has identified 96 priority locations. Subject to securing the funding we’re aiming to tackle 40 of these in Phase one over the next four years.”

How can the commercial tennis and padel industries in the UK help with the process of developing more indoor facilities? 

“The commercial sector is, and will continue, playing a vital role in investing in the number of tennis and padel facilities across Great Britain. We have all seen the significant growth of padel in recent years and much of this growth has been driven by the commercial sector – the LTA, the public and third sectors can’t do it alone. We shouldn’t forget that many commercial partners run community events or LTA SERVES or LTA Open Court sessions. We have developed strong relationships with many of the main operators and our local Delivery Teams are also working on facility plans with Local Authorities.”