Wimbledon cancelled for first time since Word War II
The Wimbledon tennis championships were cancelled for the first time since World War Two as the coronavirus pandemic wiped another blue-riband sports event off the calendar on Wednesday.
While the decision had looked inevitable for some time, since the virtual shutdown of world sport and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, Wimbledon had been one of the few events not to have been officially cancelled or postponed.
But after emergency talks between the various stakeholders over the last few days, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) announced that it was impossible for the grasscourt Grand Slam, scheduled for June 29July 12, to take place.
“It is with great regret that the main board of the All England Club and the committee of management of the championships have today decided that The Championships 2020 will be cancelled due to public health concerns linked to the coronavirus epidemic,” the AELTC said in a statement.
“The 134th Championships will instead be staged from June 28 to July 11, 2021.”
The men’s ATP Tour and women’s WTA Tour are already suspended
until at least June 7 but it looks extremely unlikely that any professional tennis will be possible throughout the summer as the pandemic worsens in Europe and the U.S.
Britain’s death toll from the virus reached 2,352 on Wednesday, according to NHS figures.
Three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker on Tuesday had pleaded for tournament chiefs to wait longer before making a decision.
“I really hope Wimbledon will wait until the end of April for decision!” he tweeted. “The tourney is first week of July... patience is a virtue.”
But former women’s world number one Amelie Mauresmo, the 2006 Wimbledon champion, said the 2020 season would probably need to be scrapped.
“I think that we are going to have to draw a line under the 2020 tennis season,” she tweeted.
The cancellation of Wimbledon could mean multiple champions Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Venus Williams have played at the All England Club for the final time.
Federer and Serena will be nearly 40 by the time of the 2021 championships and Venus will be 41.
Serena, beaten in last year’s final by Halep, is stuck on 23 Grand Slam singles titles -- agonisingly one away from equalling Margaret Court’s record.
The conditions required to play on grass in England mean a postponement is impractical and a date later in the summer or early autumn would mean much shorter evenings.
“Each week that passes, you get less and less light to play the tournament,” doubles specialist Jamie Murray told the BBC.
American giant John Isner, who won the longest-ever tennis match over three days at Wimbledon in 2010, said the scrapping of the tournament would be a “tough pill to swallow”.
“We may have to come to grips with the fact that we may not be playing Wimbledon this year,” he told ESPN on Tuesday.
“Wimbledon sort of has to be played this (same) time of year,” Isner said.
“With that surface, the event, it seems, has to be played this time and there’s a good chance it won’t be.”
The French Tennis Federation provoked widespread anger with its unilateral decision to move the French Open from its original May 24 start date to begin on September 20.
That puts the start only one week after the planned date of the US Open men’s final.