Wimbledon CANCELLATION ‘to be confirmed by All England Club after its emergency board meeting on Wednesday’
- Wimbledon will be cancelled after an emergency board meeting on Wednesday
- The Championships cannot realistically be played without fans or be postponed
- It will be the first time the tournament hasn’t been played since World War Two
- Most of the event’s potential losses will be covered by pandemic insurance
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Wimbledon is about to be the latest sporting event to be cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, with the decision reportedly set to be announced by the All England Club after Wednesday’s emergency meeting.
The club announced last week that a board meeting would take place to discuss this year’s Championships, due to take place from June 29 – July 12.
Now, The Telegraph are reporting that the tournament will be cancelled for the first time since the Second World War, with alternative options such as playing the event behind closed doors and postponing it to a later date not seen to be feasible.
The AELTC will reportedly announce Wimbledon’s cancellation after Wednesday’s meeting
Novak Djokovic holds the men’s singles trophy after beating Roger Federer last year
Staging the event without spectators would still require thousands of people working on the site and would be seen to be self-defeating.
Whilst postponing the event to a later date – even by a couple of weeks to when the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was due to be held before its one-year delay – also doesn’t work as the grass requires as much daylight as possible in order for the courts to be playable for two weeks.
Despite the inevitable damage caused, most of the club’s potential losses should be covered by specialist pandemic insurance according to the report, a safeguard that other Grand Slam events seemingly don’t have.
The cancellation would mark the first time the event hasn’t been played since World War Two
Over the weekend, the club confirmed its support to assist local efforts against the COVID-19 outbreak.
‘We have offered our facilities to our local NHS providers and will help in whatever way.
‘We are offering support to our local communities and have donated funds through our partnership with the British Red Cross and food stores through our partnership with City Harvest.’
The French Open unilaterally rescheduled the tournament to September due to coronavirus
Wimbledon’s measured and organised approach to this year’s tournament is in stark contrast to the French Open, which unilaterally made the decision to postpone the event to September without consulting other bodies and federations.
The French Tennis Federation have been widely criticised for their approach, with Roland Garros now due to take place from September 20 – October 4.
The ATP and WTA tours have been suspended until early June due to the coronavirus crisis, with the entire clay court season being wiped from the calendar.