A HIGHLIGHT of the sporting summer, Wimbledon is traditionally the third Grand Slam of each year.
WIMBLEDON chiefs had been expected to cancel the championships after practically all of the world’s sporting events were either put on hold or cancelled.
And at 4pm on Wednesday April 1 the worst was confirmed, with Wimbledon tweeting their reasons for not holding the event for the first time since WWII.
“It is with great regret that the AELTC has today decided that The Championships 2020 will be cancelled due to public health concerns linked to the coronavirus epidemic. The 134th Championships will instead be staged from 28 June to 11 July 2021.”
An emergency board meeting was held to determine if the SW19 grass-court event needs to be postponed or cancelled in the wake of the global COVID-19 outbreak.
German Tennis Federation vice-president Dirk Hordorff had revealed that it would be cancelled due to the killer bug.
He told Sky Sports Germany: “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.”
Playing behind closed doors given government restrictions on mass gatherings was ruled out.
A statement said: “The AELTC can confirm it is continuing a detailed evaluation of all scenarios for The Championships, including postponement and cancellation, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“The AELTC has been contingency planning since January, working closely with the UK government and public health authorities to follow their advice and understand the likely impact of COVID-19.”
While all professional tennis has been stopped until the start of June, no Grand Slam has been cancelled since 1945.
The French Open which had set for May and June has been rescheduled for September – a week after the US Open.
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