The Wimbledon tennis championships will not be played this year. On Monday, German Tennis Federation (DTB) vice-president Dirk Hordorff said Wimbledon will be canceled this week to the growing coronavirus pandemic. The tournament was set to begin on June 29 and the All England Club (AELTC) is expected to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday where they will officially make the move.
“I am also involved in the bodies of the ATP and WTA. The necessary decisions have already been made there and Wimbledon will decide to cancel next Wednesday,” Hordroff said to Sky Sports Germany (per CNN). There is no doubt about it. This is necessary in the current situation. “It is completely unrealistic to imagine that with the travel restrictions that we currently have an international tennis tournament where hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world would travel. That is unthinkable.”
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Last week the AELTC released a statement that said they are monitoring the situation and said it’s possible for Wimbledon to be postponed or canceled. They have been working on a contingency plan since January and have been working closely with the local government and public health officials.
“The unprecedented challenge presented by the COVID-19 crisis continues to affect our way of life in ways that we could not have imagined, and our thoughts are with all those affected in the UK and around the world,” AELTC Chief Executive Richard Lewis said. in the statement. “The single most important consideration is one of public health, and we are determined to act responsibly through the decisions we make. We are working hard to bring certainty to our plans for 2020 and have convened an emergency meeting of the AELTC Main Board for next week, at which a decision will be made.”
If the cancellation holds up, it will be the first time since 1940-1945 that Wimbledon has not been played. The reason Wimbledon wasn’t played during that time was World War II. It was the same case from 1915-1918 when World War I was taking place.
As for other tennis tournaments, the French Open was slated to start on May 18 but that has been pushed back until September. As of now, all professional tennis has been postponed until further notice.
