Players Get Wish As Wimbledon Start Is Moved
The Wimbledon Championships will start a week later from 2015, to allow players a three-week rest period following the French Open.
As it stands, the Championships begin just two weeks after the final of the French Open at Roland Garros, however from 2015, Wimbledon will run from 29th June to 12th July – allowing competitors an extended 22 days to make the transition from the clay to grass season.
World number two Novak Djokovic was one of several players who supported a potential delay in the start of the grass season during the recent Wimbledon campaign.
He told BBC Sport last month: ‘We need an extra week. It would work in the favour of players because it would give the top ones a little bit more time to get used to the surface.’
‘Logically speaking, it is the slowest surface that we’re talking about, clay, moving to the fastest one, which takes time.’
The Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club, along with the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, and the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, usually begin the day after the French Open men’s final.
The move may influence the North American hard-court schedule building up to the US Open, which traditionally starts on the final Monday in August, but on a positive note, should help to avoid a clash with Formula 1’s British Grand Prix and major football international tournaments.
