Wimbledon 2020 to Be Cancelled! German Tennis Official Has His Say on This Year’s Championship

Wimbledon Championships could become the second tennis Grand Slam after French Open to be cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Wimbledon was scheduled to be originally held from June 29 to July 12 but is now set to be postponed according to German Tennis Federation (DTB) vice-president Dirk Hordorff. The organisers will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday and announce the cancellation. “There is no doubt about it. This is necessary in the current situation,” Hordorff said. The All England Lawn Tennis Club officials had earlier ruled out any possibility of playing the Grand Slam event behind closed doors. 2020 Tokyo Olympics New Dates: Summer Olympic Games Reportedly to Be Held From July 23, 2021.

“Wimbledon has stated that they will have a board meeting next Wednesday and will make the final decision there,” Hordorff told Sky Sports Germany. “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. 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,” Hordorff added.

Hordorff’s comments came after the All England Lawn Tennis club had said in a statement that “it is continuing a detailed evaluation of all scenarios for The Championships 2020, including postponement and cancellation, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak”. The cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 event had opened up a two-week window in the tennis calendar to complete the major events, but it is unlikely that Wimbledon will take place during that time.

Earlier, the Ronald Garros organisers had shocked the tennis world by postponing the clay-court event from May to until late September because of the pandemic. The French Tennis federation came under heavy criticism over its lack of communication as the news dates for Ronald Garros clashed with several other tennis events.

“The unilateral behaviour of the organisers has been criticised by everyone and I can simply predict that the French Open will not be relocated as it was intended,” Hordorff said. “Even those there have understood that and they are slowly crawling back. Solidarity is the order of the day, it is a matter of being together and not going it alone, as the president of the French tennis association did."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 30, 2020 06:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).