A year ago today: The Wimbledon tournament is canceled
A summer without Wimbledon? Without exciting duels on the "sacred lawn"? Not only for record winner Roger Federer a horror scenario became reality on April 1st of last year.
by SID
last edit: Apr 01, 2021, 07:28 am
He was "devastated", wrote the eight-time title holder and Germany's top player Angelique Kerber was "naturally disappointed". For the first time since the Second World War, the annual highlight of the tennis scene had to be canceled - the corona virus made it impossible. The Grand Slam tournament was originally planned for the period from June 29th to July 12th.
Wimbledon was the only one of the four Grand Slam tournaments last year to be completely canceled. After the Australian Open, which was still taking place regularly, the organizers of Paris and New York postponed their events. The All England Lawn Tennis Club, on the other hand, waived - probably for good reason.
Tournament 2021 not insured
The financial damage was so limited. Because Wimbledon was the only major tournament insured against the outbreak of a pandemic and is said to have been paid out around 130 million euros. The organizers had paid millions in euros for 17 years.
In 2021, the now uninsured tournament will take place again from June 28th to July 11th, but not yet in normal mode. The organizers are planning with a reduced number of spectators, which should be defined as late as possible in order to be able to react flexibly to the current pandemic situation.