Wimbledon 2020 cancelled due to coronavirus

Wimbledon (Wikimedia Commons)

Wimbledon 2020 has been cancelled due to coronavirus. According to CTV News, it is the first time since World War II that Wimbledon will not be taking place.

The second major of the year was to take place from June 29 to July 12. One major reason for the early decision to close the tournament is because it takes organizers approximately two months to prepare and it would be difficult for organizers to abide by the new social distancing rules in Great Britain that have been put into place.

Upon hearing the news about Wimbledon’s decision, tennis legend Roger Federer of Switzerland said one word and that was simply “devastated.” Federer is an eight-time Wimbledon champion having won the grass court title in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2017. Federer is one of only two men’s singles tennis players to win Wimbledon five consecutive years. The other is Bjorn Borg of Sweden who won Wimbledon five straight years from 1976 to 1980. On the women’s side, Martina Navratilova of the United States won six straight Wimbledon titles from 1982 to 1987 and Suzanne Lenglen of France won five straight Wimbledon titles from 1919 to 1923.

The 2019 Wimbledon champions were Novak Djokovic of Serbia on the men’s side and Simona Halep of Romania on the women’s side. Djokovic beat Federer last year in an epic final that went five sets to determine the champion. In a new scoring system which took place (players went to a tiebreak if they were tied at 12 games apiece in the deciding set), Djokovic won 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 13-12. Halep meanwhile beat Serena Williams of the United States 6-2, 6-2 in the women’s final.