UTS Grand Final London 2025
UTS Grand Final London. We’d been planning this since August, and the time had finally come. We kicked things off at Crate Brewery in Hackney Wick, and if you’ve not been there, you absolutely must go. Pizzas flying out, beers flowing and the Bisque crew slowly rolling in. We’d been here exactly one year ago for UTS 2024 and knew straight away it was the perfect spot for pres. This was a moment we'd been looking forward to for months.
UTS were generous enough to give us four meet and greets with the players that were up for grabs (shout out to The Emilia Group). So while at Crate, to keep things fair, we ran a random name generator and the lucky winners were Ben, Liza, Eric and Didi. At the time, no one really knew what was in store…more on that later.
From there, we made our way over to the Copper Box for the UTS London Grand Final. We’d been here last year with around 15 members of the Bisque community, but this year was something else. Nearly 45 of us rolled in together, which was pretty special to see.
For anyone new to UTS, the format is completely different to traditional tennis. Singles courts only, no second serve, players have to go for it every time. Music is blaring throughout, the crowd is on their feet and the whole thing feels more like a live sports show than a classic tennis match. High energy from start to finish. UTS gave us our own section, which meant the Bisque crew stayed together and fully locked in.
On court, we were treated to some ridiculous tennis. Alex de Minaur, Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev and more of the world’s top players bringing serious intensity.
Then came the meet and greets. Behind the scenes access that doesn’t come around often. We got to meet Casper Ruud (#12), Francisco Cerundolo (#21), and Ugo Humbert (#37), spending real time chatting and seeing what players are like away from the spotlight. Hearing about what they get up to behind closed doors and how they experience events like UTS gave us a whole new perspective. Moments like this are exactly the opportunities we want to be giving to the Bisque community.
As if that wasn’t enough, Flo, Mariya and Gerardo were called onto court for a forehand challenge. The task was simple but terrifying: hit a mannequin from the baseline. Alejandro got roped in too, taking on the role of feeder and adding extra pressure to the challenge. It was just like a Bisque session! With the crowd watching and the tension building, Mariya hit it on her first go. Absolute scenes!
As the final matches wrapped up, it was time to head back to Hackney Wick and finish the day properly at All My Friends. A familiar favourite for us and one we always love returning to. Before we knew it, the Bisque crew had taken over the dance floor and the night ran away from us in the best possible way. Safe to say Alejandro and I had to be back at UTS the following day and were feeling a little worse for wear.
A massive thank you to everyone from the Bisque community who came along and made the day what it was. Huge thanks to UTS and The Emilia Group for opening the doors and giving us such an unreal experience. Days like this are exactly why we do what we do.
Hope to see you all again very soon. Same time next year?
Big shout out to Lewis Teasdale for capturing all the action and vibes so perfectly (@lewis.films) & Name that ball for our white custom tennis balls!
