It's a new blow for sports fans. The 2020 edition of the prestigious Wimbledon tennis tournament, which was scheduled to take place from June 29 to July 12, has been canceled due to the Covid-19 epidemic, organizers said on Wednesday (April 1st).

"The 134th edition of the championships will take place from June 28 to July 11, 2021," said the All England Lawn Tennis Club in a statement.

45. It was strongly anticipated, it is now official. There will be no 2020 edition of @Wimbledon. For the first time since the end of the Second World War (1945), a Grand Slam tournament was forced to cancel. pic.twitter.com/Ox21K3jNAY

- Chess and Math (@JeuSetMaths) April 1, 2020

Wimbledon is one of four Grand Slam tournaments with the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open.

At the same time, ATP and WTA have announced that the men's and women's professional tennis circuits will remain suspended until July 13, the entire season of field tournaments.

Serial cancellations in the tennis world

It is the first time since World War II that Wimbledon has been suspended and it joins a long list of tennis events that were canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic.

The Roland-Garros tournament, originally scheduled for May 24 to June 7, has already been postponed until the fall for the same reasons.

The options of postponing or playing behind closed doors were not considered by the organizers, due to the logistics and commitment of thousands of people in charge of the tournament.

As for people who have already bought tickets, the agency has assured that they will be reimbursed and will be advised to buy tickets for next year.

The only ray of hope for tennis aficionados, the organizers of the US Open said on Wednesday that they planned to keep their tournament on schedule, from August 31 to September 13, 2020.

With AFP

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