{"id":535169,"date":"2026-04-17T01:59:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T01:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/535169\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T01:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T01:59:15","slug":"hurlingham-vs-queens-inside-the-battle-of-londons-two-most-exclusive-tennis-clubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/535169\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurlingham vs Queen’s: inside the battle of London’s two most exclusive tennis clubs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hurlingham is cradle to grave. Children take their first tennis lessons here, sneak their first kisses behind the hedges, attend teenage discos and, eventually, marry on the lawns. Hons have had their 21st here; others have had entire lives. There is bridge, backgammon, art<\/a> club, swimming galas, pickleball, croquet (you can\u2019t play that at Queen\u2019s: a fact deployed with quiet triumph), and an outdoor pool that, in summer, makes it feel like a Cotswolds<\/a> manor. Some youngsters aren\u2019t convinced: \u2018I\u2019ve only been for family lunches, it’s all a bit stuffy\u2026 and the pool is grimy,\u2019 says one 21-year-old.<\/p>\n

For all its exclusivity, it retains a kind of unshowy charm. The car park is not full of gleaming Rolls-Royces but of old Polos. Roman Abramovich once attempted to buy the entire enterprise for \u00a31 billion, offering members \u00a31 million apiece to step aside. He was, quite rightly, rebuffed.<\/p>\n

Back at Queen\u2019s, even the socialising feels structured: a drink, a lunch, a departure. You come, you play, you leave. At Hurlingham, matches dissolve into afternoons, afternoons into evenings, evenings into late-night barbecues under strings of lights. There are reciprocal clubs in Singapore, Hong Kong<\/a>, New York<\/a>, Sydney\u2026 Home away from Hurlingham.<\/p>\n

Of course, there is crossover. Teams play each other annually; loyalties blur at the edges. Some frequent both, offering verdicts over Peroni and chicken Milanese. Others remain staunchly partisan. \u2018Queen\u2019s feels more bougie,\u2019 one notes, with a raised eyebrow. Another, not a member of either, but of the Camden<\/a> Hill Club, confesses a preference for \u2018French accents and half pints,\u2019 before adding \u2013 rather cattily \u2013 that Queen\u2019s members are \u2018just too happy to be members.\u2019 Jealousy? Almost certainly.<\/p>\n

So where does that leave the discerning Tatler reader? If you want perfect grass, punishing rallies and a shower experience bordering on the transcendental, Queen\u2019s is your court. If you want something for the family \u2013 something that stretches from childhood to old age, from first serve to final spritz \u2013 Hurlingham awaits, all wisteria and socialising. Although there is no guarantee of any membership, for either, forever\u2026<\/p>\n

Fret not, you could do what the clever set does: hover between the two. After all, in London, the real sport isn\u2019t tennis. It\u2019s choosing where to play it \u2013 and finding the access to do just that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hurlingham is cradle to grave. Children take their first tennis lessons here, sneak their first kisses behind the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[242,184986,101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-535169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-features","tag-paywall-sample-for-0-days","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}