Wimbledon 2020 on Wednesday became the first major sporting event to get cancelled as the world continues to battle against the novel coronavirus. The French Open and Tokyo Olympics were both postponed, but the fate of the Wimbledon Championships was a cancellation.
The members of the AELTC held a two-day emergency meeting amid the 21-day lockdown in Britain before scrapping the 134th edition of the tournament. This will be the first time since 1945, the second World War, that the Wimbledon will not be played in a calendar year. Overall, it has been cancelled in 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918 and then in 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, and 1944.
Following the announcement, veterans of the sport, Roger Federer and Serena Williams reacted to the cancellation.
The World No.4 and eight-time champion at the SW19 reacted by sharing a GIF where it was written, "There is no GIF for these things that I am feeling." He captioned it with the word - "Devastated".
Serena, a seven-time Wimbledon winner, wrote, "shocked" as she shared the official statement of the AELTC.
"It is with great regret that the Main Board of the All England Club (AELTC) and the Committee of Management of The Championships have today decided that The Championships 2020 will be cancelled due to public health concerns linked to the coronavirus epidemic. The 134th Championships will instead be staged from 28 June to 11 July 2021," the AELTC said in its statement.
