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The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the Women's Tennis Association Tour and the ATP World Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom its current tournament name has been held under different names since 1968 for sponsorship reasons the tournaments history began in 1881 and for a period of eighty six years until 1967 it was known as the South of England Championships, it is classified as a WTA Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. Also, it was an ATP World Tour 250 series on the ATP World Tour from 2009 to 2014. The tournament is played on outdoor grass courts, and is generally considered a "warm-up" for the Wimbledon Grand Slam event, which begins the following week. As from 2015 the annual tournament will return to a Ladies only event, with the Men's competition returning to Nottingham. It is currently sponsored by AEGON. The 2015 tournament took place from 22 to 27 June. In April 2016, it was announced that men's tennis would return to Eastbourne for the 2017 season with the ATP World Tour 250 series event being reinstated.

History
The competition at Eastbourne even from its early beginnings was considered one of the most prestigious tournaments that attracted large entries and matches even in those days and it was the worlds largest tournament in terms of participants at the turn of the twentieth century.

Women's tennis
The first tournament to be staged at Devonshire Park was a women's event in 1881, and were originally known the South of England Championships and were usually held every September annually, early winners of the lady's singles championships included Dorothea Chambers, Blanche Bingley Hillyard, and Charlotte Cooper Sterry, May Langrishe. The first overseas non British Isles winner was the American Elizabeth Ryan in collecting 3 consecutive titles between (1919-21) after World War One she was followed by the South African  Irene Peacock in 1923 and Anita Lizana from Chile’s in 1936

Following World War Two tennis British winners included Ann Haydon and Shirley Bloomer the Brazilian player Maria Bueno the Australian player Fay Toyne was the last foreign ladies champion before the advent of the open era in 1968 the South of England Championships changed schedule to July until 1969 after the Championships at Wimbledon in 1970 it's schedule changed again so that it was held before Wimbledon the South of England Championships continued until 1967

From 1968's onwards until today the tournament has attracted many different sponsors.

In 1968 it was known as the Rothman's Invitational for sponsorship reasons from 1969 to 1972 it was called the Eastbourne Invitational, there was no event in 1973 then in 1974 it changed its name to the John Players Championships until 1975 then became known as the Colgate International from 1976 to 1979, then the BMW Championships from 1980 to 1983, then the Eastbourne Championships in 1984, from 1985 to 1992 it was called the Pilkington Glass Championships, the Volkswagen Cup (1993 to 1994), the Direct Line Insurance International Championships (1995 to 2000), the Britanic Asset Management International Championships (2001-02), the Hastings Direct International Championships (2003-07), the International Women's Open in (2008) before becoming known as the Aegon International in 2009.

Men's tennis
The first Men’s events started in 1881 also called the South of England Championships early winners of the the men's championship included Wilfred Baddeley, Sydney Howard Smith, Josiah Ritchie, Anthony Wilding, Otto Froitzheim and Ken Rosewall it continued until 1967 before being renamed for sponsorship reasons in 1968 from 1970 to 1973 the men's tournament was known as the Rothmans South of England Open Championships. The men's senior event ceased for a period of 36 years when it was re-instated in 2009 following the Eastbourne tournaments merger with the Nottingham Open that lasted until 2014 when it was cancelled again in 2015. In 2016 the Lawn Tennis Association announced that the men’s ATP 250 tournament will leave Nottingham after two years and return the men's competition to Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club. Since the beginning of the Open Era the men's tournament has struggled to attract strong draws for its event one of the main causes in cancellation of the tournament on and off for quite a long period however since the announcement of the resumption of men's play at Eastbourne the long term future of the event as a combined competion seems secure the LTA and Eastbourne council recently announced a £44 million pound re-development project for the venue that will ensure it remains both a mens and womens combined tournament until at least 2026

Combination
During 2007, lack of sponsorship for the Eastbourne tournament led the Lawn Tennis Association to consider moving the tournament to London. However, as part of a general reorganisation of United Kingdom professional tennis tournaments, it was instead decided to merge the event with the Nottingham Open, traditionally held during the same week. From 2009, therefore, the Eastbourne courts have hosted a combined women's and men's event until 2014. In 2015 and 2016 it was an only Ladies event (with the men's competition returning to Nottingham). In 2017, the Eastbourne tournament will return to being a combined event.

Past winners
Notes: Challenge Round: The Final round of a tournament, in which the winner of a single-elimination phase faces the previous year's champion, who plays only that one match. The challenge round was used in the early history of tennis (from 1877 through 1921) in some tournaments not all. * Indicates challenger

Blanche Bingley Hillyard and Martina Navratilova holds the record for the most women's singles titles with 11.