A 100-year-old actress has doubled down on her vow to stop the controversial Wimbledon expansion plans in any way she can.
Thelma Ruby, who celebrated her centenary birthday in March, lives in a penthouse flat overlooking the grounds of the All England Club.
The 8,000 capacity court will become the third-largest court behind Centre Court and Court One and will bring Wimbledon in line with other Grand Slam venuesAllies and Morrison Campaigners are concerned about the current environmental impactThelma RubyHowever, the demise of her beloved view of the Wimbledon landscape is one of the many controversial aspects of the SW19 revamp.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) purchased the lease of Wimbledon Park Golf Club for £65million in 2018, which saw members, including TV presenters Piers Morgan and Ant and Dec, each receive £85,000 in compensation.
The Greater London Authority approved plans for the AELTC to carry out a wide-ranging expansion of the site in September 2024.
The projected £200million scheme would see 39 new tennis courts built and an 8,000-seat stadium on Wimbledon Park, to stage qualifying matches in SW19, which currently are held three-and-a-half miles away at Roehampton’s Community Sports Centre.
During an exclusive interview with talkSPORT.com, actress Ruby said: “They’re not even needed, there’s no reason why they can’t continue being played over there.
“And if this terrible evil plan goes ahead, instead of what now keeps me going, it fills my day with joy, looking out at my view, it gives me the spirit to keep going.
“Instead of that, I’m going to hear hundreds of trees being cut down, the whole grass being cut up, and polluting lorries passing by a window every 10 minutes.
“I mean it when I say I don’t want to carry on living if that’s what I have to if that’s what I have to endure.
“I cannot imagine that at every moment that this is put up, every moment that I can still look at this through my window, I am blessed and I’m still enjoying life, and I won’t when this happens.”
Completion of the project, which would increase Wimbledon capacity from 42,000 to 50,000, wouldn’t be completed until the early 2030s.
Thelma believes cutting down the trees outside her flat is ‘desecration and it’s wicked’Darren Fletcher The site on Wimbledon Park is a Grade II* Heritage Landscape, registered park and gardenThelma RubyWimbledon’s tennis expansion explained
1993: The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) bought the Wimbledon Park golf course land from Merton council for £5.2million ($6.6million), making a covenant that they would not build on it.
2018: AELTC paid £65m to buy out the remainder of Wimbledon Park Golf Club’s lease, which had been due to expire in 2041.
2021: A planning application for the expansion was sent to both Merton and Wandsworth councils, with the club straddling both areas.
October 2023: Merton Council approved AELTC’s plans, but Wandsworth Council rejected the proposals.
September 2024: The case then went to the Greater London Authority (GLA), which approved planning permission to build 39 new tennis courts, one of them a stadium court.
December 2024: Campaign group Save Wimbledon Park (SWP) instructs lawyers to challenge the decision.
January 2025: AELTC announce own bid to seek legal judgment to fend off future challenges.
July 8 and 9, 2025: Judicial review where the UK High Court will hear both sides’ arguments.
Ruby added: “It would spoil my entire life. I would have no future, I would have no life. But that’s just me. I’m thinking of everybody, too.
“Anybody who cares about the future of the planet, we’ve tried to protect it in every legal way.
“Please make sure that the tennis people know that what they’re doing is against all decent thinking. It’s desecration and it’s wicked.
Ruby, who appeared in Coronation Street in 1996 and on stage alongside Orson Welles and close friend Judi Dench, is also a keen advocate for a campaign group fighting Wimbledon expansion plans.
Save Wimbledon Park raised £200,000 for an upcoming judicial review to stress the environmental impact of the redevelopment.
The situation will come to a head in the High Court during the second week of Wimbledon, but Ruby, who has tickets to the All England Club on day one of the two-day hearing, won’t be able to attend.
Thelma Ruby, third from right, pictured alongside fellow chorus girls Peggy Cummins, Anne Massey, Sheila Sim, Joan Sims, Jean Kent, Dulcie Grey, Brenda Bruce, and actor Tyrone Power at the London Palladium in 1956Getty She will be back at Wimbledon this summer after receiving her 100th birthday letter from the KingGettyShe continued: “I hope I’ll enjoy it. I usually do. I’ve got lovely seats and I enjoy tennis, but I certainly will be very nervous.
“I love tennis, that’s what’s so awful. I love watching tennis.
“It’s one of the two sports I enjoy watching, that and snooker, are my two sports that I love, and yet this is happening with the sport I love can do this to this wonderful area, this glorious area.”
Debbie Jevans, chairwoman of the All England Club, is attending the review and is confident that it will be a positive result.
But bigger opposition may be found in the form of Ruby, who doubled down on her potential plan of action if that happens.
“I said I would chain myself to a tree so I could save one of the 800 trees, just as it was done in the past, I’d have to go on to watch their private property, so I might get arrested,” she said, laughing.
“I’ve been a law-abiding citizen for 100 years, and I would break that – anything to stop this from going through.
“It would scare me, but I’ve got to do anything I can, anything, anything on earth I can do to stop this from going through.”
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