Dirk Hordorff: "Wimbledon will decide to cancel on Wednesday"
DTB Vice President Dirk Hordorff is certain that there will be no Wimbledon 2020 tournament due to the corona pandemic.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Mar 30, 2020, 10:09 am
Wimbledon had announced last week that there should be a board meeting this week to make the decision about this year's tournament. A cancellation or postponement should be up for debate here; the All England Club had already ruled out an event without spectators.
According to Hordorff, the cancellation only seems to be a matter of form. "I myself 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. That is necessary in the current situation," said the 63-year-old talking to Sky on Sunday. "It is completely unrealistic to imagine that with the travel restrictions that we currently have, an international tennis tournament where hundreds of thousands from all over the world would travel to can take place. This is unthinkable."
Wimbledon secured against corona pandemic
Due to the grass pitches and the lighting conditions, there was also speculation about a possible postponement, especially after the Olympic Games were canceled and a time window was open - but only a few weeks after the original date (June 29 to July 12). "Wimbledon was probably - as the only Grand Slam tournament - predictable enough many years ago to insure itself against a global pandemic, so that the financial damage there should be minimized. Of course, Wimbledon also has enough reserves to survive for several years can, "continued Hordorff. "Wimbledon in the period September, October, when nobody knows whether you can play, would be unthinkable due to the lawn situation."
French Open: "Slowly crawl to crosses"
Even when it comes to the French Open, the last word doesn't seem to have been spoken yet, says Rainer Schüttler's longtime coach. Roland Garros recently announced the postponement from May to September, a week after the US Open. This single-handedness had brought a lot of criticism to the French - especially since several tournaments of the ATP and WTA tour take place in parallel, as did the Laver Cup .
"The unsolidaristic behavior of the organizers has been criticized by everyone and I can simply predict that the French Open will not be laid out as it was intended. Either they will be able to be incorporated into a sensible plan with the entire tennis family or they will feel the consequences of the entire tennis family. The points will be withdrawn and they will degenerate into a chaos event, "said Hordorff, who also wants to feel a certain remorse among the decision-makers. "Even those responsible got it there and they are slowly creeping back to crosses. In today's world, solidarity is the order of the day, not just going it alone, as the President of the French Tennis Association did."
Hordorff: Help instead of whining
Hordorff emphasized that it is currently difficult times for everyone - all over the world, but also in the tennis area, as well as for "the club coach who cannot give hours." As far as the professional level is concerned, Hordorff wants to see everything in relation. "It is of course a difficult situation for many professionals who are not at the forefront," he said. "But there are far worse cases in the world. Someone who is 100th in the world - if he whines today, he should look around to see if he can help others instead of feeling sorry for himself."