Wimbledon to move back a week

 

Originally published on: 19/07/12 00:00

After weeks of speculation, the All England Club confirmed the landmark decision on Thursday, with the intention of benefiting the sport as a whole.

“The best interests of tennis will be served by allowing the players more time to recuperate and to adjust from the clay of Roland Garros to the grass at Wimbledon,” said Philip Brook, Chairman of the All England Club.

“All our research indicates that there is widespread support within the game for extending the gap between the French Open and Wimbledon and, importantly, we think most players will welcome the prospect of a longer grass court season and spending more time on the softer surface of grass.

“In making this change from 2015 we recognise that there will be some important consequences for the overall tennis calendar and enough time needs to be given to allow us all to plan accordingly.  In anticipation of the work required, I would like to thank our colleagues throughout the game for their enthusiasm and support for the vision of a tennis calendar that will better suit the needs of the modern day sport.”

The news comes as good news, not least for world No.2 Novak Djokovic, who was particularly outspoken about the need to increase the gap between the two summer slams ahead of this year's Championships.

'We've had this schedule forever, I think. My personal opinion is that it is too short," the Serb said. "We need an extra week, because it would give especially the top players a little bit more time to get used to the surface."

In three years time, Djokovic and his fellow professionals will have just that.

Wimbledon 2015 will run from Monday 29 June to Sunday 12 July.

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