The BBC has extended its right to broadcast tennis from Eastbourne until 2024, in an extension to the existing deal.

This will enable the BBC to broadcast the annual tennis tournament free-to-air across TV, radio and online for another seven years.

Since Eastbourne’s inception in 1974, some of the finest female players in the world gather annually in the seaside town to finely tune their grass courts skills ahead of Wimbledon.

With the announcement of the new deal, the BBC has successfully secured the rights to three summer tennis tournaments – Eastbourne, Queen’s and Wimbledon – until 2024. In November 2016, the BBC extended its Wimbledon deal. Then in January, the BBC announced it would keep Queen’s Club tennis free-to-air