The organizers of Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the season, will meet this Wednesday, on an emergency basis, to decide the cancellation of the tournament, for the first time since World War II.
The coronavirus outbreak has swept away the majority of major sporting events and next on the list appears to be Wimbledon, which was scheduled for June 29 to July 12.
While Roland Garros, which was due to take place a month earlier, made the unilateral decision to move its dates to September, Wimbledon’s options are much slimmer.
Playing behind closed doors does not seem like an option since, despite this, the tournament would require many workers within the All England Club, while a postponement is very complicated due to the special conditions of the grass, which requires a certain number of hours of sunshine to be ready for the game, and London weather much wetter at other times of the year.
The first to advance the news was the vice president of the German tennis federation, Dirk Hordorff, who told Sky Sports on Monday that there would be no Wimbledon, and that the decision, not yet announced, had already been taken by the All England Tennis Club .
It would be the first time since the war that the English championship is suspended. Since the Grand Slam started running in 1888 – being the oldest of the four – ten editions have been canceled, all of them due to the war.
It was not played from 1915 to 1919 because of the First World War and tennis stopped in London also due to the second great conflict of the 20th century, the Second World War. The All England Club closed its doors from 1940 to 1945, being used as a warehouse and medical center during the contest.
During the coronavirus crisis, the Wimbledon compound has been offered for British health service personnel in whatever they need.
With all tennis suspended until June 8, the date that marks the beginning of the grass season, it seems that Wimbledon will take with him other tournaments such as Stuttgart, Queen’s, Halle, S-Hertogenbosch, Mallorca and Eastbourne, all of them on grass. .
Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep will have to wait a year to defend their title in London.
(c) EFE Agency