Wimbledon Date Change Confirmed

Doublebounce

Professional
The All England Club today confirmed that, following extensive consultation across the tennis and wider sporting world, The Championships’ dates will be moved back by one week with effect from 2015.

The change of dates will benefit the sport as a whole by creating a three week gap between the French Open and Wimbledon, a move which will allow the players a longer grass court season in the build-up to The Championships, and precious additional time to recover from the demands of playing Roland Garros and to prepare for Wimbledon.

Announcing the decision, Philip Brook, Chairman of the All England Club, said: “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 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.”

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




heres the link : http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/news/press_releases/2012-07-19/201207191342698319697.html


i think this is a good decision, gives the players an oppurtunity to play a tuneup event that is not right after the french, or right before wimbledon. i always thought the grass season was too short anyway.
 

TennezSport

Hall of Fame
Great idea..........

I agree and this it's a great idea, now I just wish they would bring back some of that old grass :)

Cheers, TennezSport :cool:
 

bjk

Hall of Fame
predictions - Newport will move to pre-Wimbledon and either Queens or Halle (probably Halle) will become 500. Germany doesn't have a 500, does it?
 

bjk

Hall of Fame
Hamburg is a German 500. This is good news for players like Roddick or Querrey who rack up points during grass court season.
 

Towser83

G.O.A.T.
Too late to matter for Federer.

Yeah if there were even one grass masters Federer would probably have about 23-25 masters. If there were enough room for 2 grass masters, he might have even 25-29.

But I'm still glad if they make etra room and hopefully make a 10th masters.
 

bjk

Hall of Fame
So who would be most likely be upgraded to a Masters? Queens or Halle?

I don't think it will be a Masters. If it were, they might downgrade the China masters. Nobody in China cares about tennis, and won't until Jeremy Lin starts playing tennis.
 

West Coast Ace

G.O.A.T.
So who would be most likely be upgraded to a Masters? Queens or Halle?
Big IF. Not sure why the Wimby move means any major changes to the ATP schedule. Let's wait to hear what they say. Having said that, Queens is a 56 draw already; but Halle pays more.

I don't think it will be a Masters. If it were, they might downgrade the China masters. Nobody in China cares about tennis, and won't until Jeremy Lin starts playing tennis.
Asia is the future - ATP is very smart to create the fall Asian swing. Show some patience - it will take time to grow the sport. I've been going to Shanghai 8 straight yrs - the later rounds get good crowds; getting better every yr. The later night matches Mon - Thurs are bad because we have to get to the transportation so we can get home - stadium is way outside of the center of the city and they shut the subway down too early; the taxi drivers try to rip people off; the shuttle bus drivers are scary bad.
 

USOpenfan

New User
As another poster has stated I would also love to see Queens or Halle upgraded to 500's. Grass is a great surface to watch tennis on and it pays tribute to the origins of the game. This is a good idea to push back the date WO starts.
 
D

Deleted member 77403

Guest
Make Halle a Masters. Give Germany back what was taken from them when hamburg lost it's 1000 status.
 

Cup8489

G.O.A.T.
They should push it back another week and make queens and halle both masters events, in different weeks.
 

Mainad

Bionic Poster
queens obvs.

Is it that obvious? Sure, Queens has the prestige of its history but Halle has a bigger intake and stadium and wouldn't have to make as many changes to comply with Masters requirements. Plus the ATP might be feeling a bit guilty about taking away Germany's only Masters tournament (Hamburg) and might wish to compensate.
 

merlinpinpin

Hall of Fame
queens obvs.

Couldn't be, actually. London already has the WTF (at least at the moment), and another little tourney that's played on grass around Wimbledon, so technically, it can't have anything more than an ATP500 as a second (or third) tournament.

Of course, there is an exception to this rule, ie Paris, but this was made possible by paying a big check to the ITF. Should London keep WTF, Queen's is definitely out for a M1000, imho.

Halle would then be the logical choice--but this is IF they bump a grass event to Master's status, which is yet to be confirmed.
 
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