The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) is the greatest tennis club in Britain. Queen Elizabeth is the patron, and it is host not only to Varsity, but also to the greatest Grand Slam event of the year: Wimbledon.

Having been Club Director of the AELTC for ten years, Martin Guntrip is the man behind the club’s continuing success. He was ranked number nine in Great Britain in his tennis playing years and, after a 20-year gap in commercial business, he was drawn back into the tennis world, this time to run the UK’s most prestigious club. How does the club manage to synthesise its famous traditional outlook with thinking about access and modernity, and how does it handle the pressure of dealing with the biggest tournament of the year?

“It’s great to be part of an organisation that’s always moving forward and trying to improve, in technology and spectator and player experience, whilst holding on to its traditions and values: grass, all white clothing, lack of branding except Rolex and Ralph Lauren.” Many are sceptical about whether this balance is possible. Is there a place for such a centre of tradition in the modern world? Guntrip is adamant there is: “There’s no plan to change that.” According to him, its traditional aspects make Wimbledon what it is, that is what people recognise and respond to. “When you see a photograph, when you flick a channel, everybody knows this is Wimbledon, instantly: that’s Wimbledon, it’s grass, there’s no branding, they’re playing in white, there’s the ivy growing up the club house. People get it, and that’s why people come here. That’s why it’s a totally sold out event, which we could sell out three or four times over.”

Certain things, however, have to be modernised. Guntrip explains that they have to keep up to the minute in order to respond to the expectations of the professional players: “They want an easy life with no hassle: they want to know where their practice court is, have all the right food, the right ingredients, all diets catered for.” The AELTC makes it happen through technology: “We have an app which they can book through and in their cars they have WiFi.” They have also had to adapt to the modern pre- and post-game demands. “There is an increased focus on gyms, stretching areas, and a lot of them having ice baths after they play, so the AELTC have moved heavily into those areas,” he tells me.

The way in which amateurs view sport has also changed significantly, and Guntrip understands this: “We are more in this instant, got to do it now, boom, I can cram 45 minutes of exercise in here.” This is a problem for tennis: “We’re now competing with sport or activity that’s on the doorstep – you get changed, you go out and you run. Tennis is more time consuming and you have to link up with other people to play. Top-level tennis will take two and a half hours. That is tough.”

So how do the AELTC try to make sure that tennis is not lost on these amateurs? Although it is technically the Law Tennis Assocation’s (LTA) job to increase participation in British tennis, Guntrip is adamant that local clubs play a vital role: “Clubs are important and have traditionally been the route to success, even if initial keenness is shown in a park or at school. It is still a solid route.” Hence the AELTC’s access programme. “We go to every state primary school in the London boroughs of Merton and Wandsworth and introduce tennis to every child in those schools. If children have good hand-eye, seem keen and are enthusiastic, we invite them at weekends to come and play at the club. We get about 800 kids every weekend aged from 4–18.

“We are building a new centre at Raynes Park with six courts: three indoor courts and three bubbled courts, in order to take that programme, improve it and increase the numbers.” Regardless of their background, the AELTC wants the children to feel special: “We want people to have the best experience they possibly can, that’s the ultimate aim”.

Issues of access in British tennis – which fall under the remit of the LTA – go beyond underprivileged children. There is no female Andy Murray; we have nobody remotely like the Williams sisters in this country, and, as Guntrip reminds us, there hasn’t been a really successful British female player at Wimbledon since Virginia Wade won it in 1977. I ask him if, at a tournament like Wimbledon, with a schedule and prize money which give women equal footing, it is frustrating not having the female talent in the UK to back that up. He highlights the few UK female successes at Wimbledon in the past decade but adds hopefully: “Konta and Watson are playing to the best of their abilities. Maybe they can go further; we hope they can.” However, Guntrip makes it clear that, although British tennis may be struggling to foster home-grown talent in the women’s game, Wimbledon does everything it can to promote gender equality: “We are totally equal here: prize money, show court time, everything. We schedule accordingly, we’re pretty fair and the ladies’ matches are very popular.”

One Brit is certainly performing at the highest level. Andy Murray has transformed British tennis, increasing participation and the country’s belief in the game. Martin Guntrip expands on the Scot’s substantial impact on the British tennis scene, having seen him play at the club on a daily basis: “There is definitely an Andy Murray factor. There was a Tim Henman factor, and Andy is more successful than Tim. The BBC ratings go up if Andy Murray is playing.” But is this just one man covering up for the lack of strength and depth in British tennis? “There’s no doubt there’s a lack of strength and depth. The thing with tennis is it’s an individual sport played by over 200 countries in the world, so it’s highly competitive.” This makes it difficult for players to make a name for themselves: “If you were top five in your country in football, rugby or cricket, you would be a bit of a superstar – you’re not in tennis. It’s tough.” Guntrip argues that even Andy Murray’s success is “quantum years behind Wayne Rooney or someone like that”.

The players may not get the stage they deserve, but there is no doubt that Wimbledon does. It was described by Martin Sorel, head of the WPP, the world’s largest advertising company, as the second biggest sports brand after the Olympics. I ask Guntrip about the pressure to perform, hosting such an iconic tournament: “There’s always the odd curveball, but because the planning is so intricate, believe it or not, once the first day’s over it’s actually very comfortable. Our biggest issue is perhaps one of our guests turning up to the Royal Box on Finals’ Day incorrectly dressed.” This is a not-so-subtle allusion to Lewis Hamilton’s clothing faux-pas this year, turning up without a jacket or tie: “But he was delightful; he was very apologetic. His private secretary got it wrong and he was absolutely fine about it.”

So what does the club do outside the Wimbledon fortnight, when it moves out of the public eye? After all, first and foremost the AELTC is a tennis club, just one where the members have been good-level tennis players, at least top-level county, if not international, as well as past champions. Guntrip explains: “Last year we had about 134 events, given that we’re running a championships as well. So that’s everything from a match against another club, the Oxbridge Varsity match, to a national veterans’ tournament with 800 players or the Road to Wimbledon finals.” And it’s not all about tennis; there’s snooker, too. “Andy Murray has entered the club snooker tournament with Jamie Delgado – they’re unseeded, so we’ll have to see.”

With Andy Murray, Wimbledon and 800 aspiring access juniors, the AELTC has a lot on its plate. Tackling inequality and the march of modernity is no mean feat. Let’s hope Martin Guntrip and the club can keep up this performance, maintaining Britain’s shining place on tennis’s global stage.