Health club entrepreneur and former captain of the British Davis Cup Team, David Lloyd, is planning to open at least one ‘lifestyle’ tennis club in Russia as part of plans to create a string of sites in developing markets.

“In Moscow there are no lifestyle clubs but plenty of gyms,” he told Health Club Management. “Membership fees are on a par with London, but staff costs are 35 per cent less.

“It’s a gamble, but if the country aligns itself to another currency, like the US dollar, there’s lots of potential.

“My aim is to go to all the ex-tennis players in, for example, Poland and Russia, and bring them in as figurehead partners. Get the best name and you’ll inevitably get the best site. These players walk on water in their home countries, nobody is going to screw with them.”

Lloyd has spent the last year drawing up plans to develop the historic Lachita Club in St Petersburg. The club is one of the oldest tennis clubs in Europe, but has been ignored because it has not moved with the times.

“President Putin has invested a lot of money into the city and it only has one over-subscribed gym. Then there’s the increased Russian TV coverage of international tennis tournaments, largely due to the fact that so many Russian players are now at high levels; about 12 of the current top 20 lady tennis players are Russian.” For full interview, see HCM September 2005 p28