TASS, April 1. The Wimbledon Championships, third Grand Slam tournament in the tennis calendar and the oldest tennis tournament in the world, has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the tournament’s press service reports.
In 2020, Wimbledon was supposed to be held at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club between June 29 and July 12. Currently, all tennis tournaments are suspended until June 7 due to the pandemic. In 2021, Wimbledon’s next edition will take place between June 28 and July 11.
Earlier, the second Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season, French Open, announced its decision to postpone the competitions scheduled to be held in Paris between May 25 and June 7 and reschedule the whole tournament to autumn.
"It is with great regret that the Main Board of the All England Club (AELTC) and the Committee of Management of The Championships have 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," the tournament organizers said in a press release.
"This is a decision that we have not taken lightly, and we have done so with the highest regard for public health and the wellbeing of all those who come together to make Wimbledon happen. It has weighed heavily on our minds that the staging of The Championships has only been interrupted previously by World Wars but, following thorough and extensive consideration of all scenarios, we believe that it is a measure of this global crisis that it is ultimately the right decision to cancel this year’s Championships, and instead concentrate on how we can use the breadth of Wimbledon’s resources to help those in our local communities and beyond. Our thoughts are with all those who have been and continue to be affected by these unprecedented times," Ian Hewitt, AELTC Chairman, stressed.
Wimbledon has been held since 1877, this year’s edition was supposed to be the 134th one. Previously, the competitions were only cancelled due to world wars (in 1915-1918 and 1940-1945). Last year, Serb Novak Djokovic and Romania’s Simona Halep landed singles titles of the 2019 tournament that offered $49.43 million in prize money. Swiss Roger Federer holds a record number of titles among male tennis players (8), while Martina Navratilova (who represented Czechoslovakia and later the US) holds the all-time record of Wimbledon titles with nine.
Russian male tennis players have never made it to the Wimbledon final to contest the trophy. In 1973, Alexander Metreveli who represented the Soviet Union lost the final to Czech Jan Kodes (1-6, 8-9, 4-6). Russian women had more luck at the tournament — Maria Sharapova became the first Russian tennis player to win Wimbledon in 2004, sensationally beating American Serena Williams (6-1, 6-4). In 2010, another Russian Vera Zvonareva reached the finals but lost the title match to Serena Williams (3-6, 2-6), while Czech Petra Kvitova denied Sharapova her second Wimbledon trophy in 2011, prevailing 6-3, 6-4. In 1974, Soviet tennis player Olga Morozova lost to American Chris Evert in the final (0-6, 4-6).
In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in more than 160 countries, including Russia
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. To date, more than 850,000 people have been infected worldwide and over 42,000 deaths have been reported.