Fifteen used tennis nets from the 2024 Wimbledon Championships have been donated to public parks and schools across Merton and Wandsworth, continuing the tournament’s annual tradition of giving back to the local community.
The donation, coordinated by the Wimbledon Foundation, represents the latest chapter in a charitable program that has been quietly enhancing tennis facilities across South West London for years. However, eagle-eyed tennis enthusiasts might notice that this year’s donation of 15 nets is rather more modest than usual – in previous years, the Foundation has donated 48 nets.
While the All England Club maintains diplomatic silence on the whereabouts of the other nets, local tennis players can’t help but wonder if championship-quality equipment is being quietly stockpiled somewhere in SW19, awaiting the outcome of High Court battles scheduled for January and potential appeals later this year.
Wimbledon is planning to install 38 new tennis courts on protected Metropolitan Open Land at the former Wimbledon Park Golf Club, tripling the size of the tournament site: a move that locals are less-than-excited about and are taking to the High Court.
Championship quality equipment
The donated nets, manufactured and supplied by Edwards Sports – the same company that has provided Wimbledon’s court equipment for decades – represent professional-standard equipment that would typically cost hundreds of pounds each when new. Edwards Sports has been crafting tennis nets for prestigious venues including the All England Club, Queen’s Club, and Stoke Park for over a century.
What makes these nets special is their construction: woven from rot-proof materials designed to withstand British weather, with reinforced edges and precisely calibrated mesh size that meets International Tennis Federation specifications. The nets are designed to maintain consistent tension and height across their 42-foot span, ensuring fair play at the highest level.
This partly explains why tennis courts across South West London often punch above their weight in terms of quality. The recent renovation of courts at Barn Elms, for instance.
Broader charitable impact
The nets are just one element of the Wimbledon Foundation’s post-tournament donations. This year, clothing and towels used by players during the championships have also been distributed to local charities including Age UK Merton, Age UK Wandsworth, and Home-Start Merton. The Foundation’s Plant Sale raised over £12,500, with nearly 60 community groups collecting leftover flowers and plants from the tournament’s elaborate displays.
Since its establishment in 2014, the Wimbledon Foundation has distributed over £20 million to charitable causes, with £4 million awarded annually to local, national, and international charities. The Foundation’s commitment to Merton and Wandsworth is particularly strong, reflecting the tournament’s deep roots in the local community.
Courts in need
One location that could particularly benefit from the donated nets is Putney Common, where Wimbledon and Putney Commons Conservators are currently paying for extensive renovations to five courts in an appalling state. The restoration work has been complicated by the discovery that previous operators had, inexplicably, set some nets in concrete – requiring excavation work before proper installation can begin.
“We remain fully committed to reopening the courts as a high-quality community tennis facility,” a spokesperson for the Conservators said, though they noted they cannot provide a definitive timeline until contracts are signed with both providers and refurbishment contractors.
Beyond equipment donations, Wimbledon’s environmental consciousness extends to creative reuse programs. Thousands of tennis balls from the tournament are donated – in the past to the Wildlife Trust where they were converted into nesting boxes for harvest mice by cutting small entrance holes and attaching them to poles in countryside locations.
The tennis courts at Putney Common were not in an appalling state, they were used regularly until the WPCC evicted the previous licensee, without having a replacement lined up. There is NO restoration work, and the excuse of the ‘inexpicable’ concrete is a red herring, ‘excavation’ would take a matter of an hour or two with a small mechanical hammer. The courts could be used tomorrow if the WPCC wanted them to be, instead they continue to prevaricate and drag their heels.