Wimbledon to start a week later in 2015

By Lisa-Marie Burrows

Wimbledon, London, England – On Thursday, the All-England Club announced that after a great deal of consideration and consultation with the ATP and WTA Tours, they have decided to move The Championships’ back a week from 2015 onwards.

This decision has been welcomed by many of the players which has given a larger rest period of three weeks between Roland Garros and Wimbledon, enabling the competitors a larger amount of time to adjust to the surface and prepare for the third Grand Slam of the year.

An official statement was released by the Chairman of the All-England Club:

“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. 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 recognize there will be 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 better suits the needs of the modern day sport.”

The official new dates for Wimbledon in 2015 are from Monday 29th June to Sunday 12th July.