Advantage Covid-19 as Wimbledon is off

THE British summer was officially cancelled yesterday after Wimbledon and the Edinburgh Fringe were called off, with County Championship cricket also facing the axe.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club formally declared Wimbledon a nonstarter, making it the last of the major events – and the jewel in the crown of the English sporting summer – to succumb to coronavirus.

The Edinburgh Fringe along with the Scottish capital’s other summer festivals were also scrapped yesterday, despite not being held until August.

Wimbledon rubber-stamped what had seemed inevitable after the European football championships and the Olympics were delayed for a year.

Since its foundation in 1877, the tennis tournament has previously only been called off during the world wars.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society said it was “heartbreaking” to cancel but said it was “the only appropriate response”. Shona Mccarthy, its chief executive, said: “The safety of participants, audiences, local residents and indeed everyone connected to our festivals will always come first.”

The Daily Telegraph can also disclose that County Championship cricket is in line to be abandoned for the first time outside of war years since 1890, as priority is given to international and Twenty20 cricket.

Senior figures at the England & Wales Cricket Board and several counties are understood to have accepted fitting in a meaningful championship competition is virtually impossible.

Full report: Sport