"It was a big decision": Tim Henman insists Wimbledon will not follow in footsteps of Australian, US Open

Former Britain’s number one, Tim Henman, has insisted that Wimbledon will not follow the decisions made by other Grand Slams. In the recent past, one of the Grand Slams — the Australian Open — decided to start the competition on Sunday instead of Monday.

Most recently, US Open organisers announced that they will follow in the footsteps of the Australian Open organisers and will begin their competition on Sunday, meaning they will have 15 days to complete the event. However, former Britain’s number Henman has been recently quoted in a report in which he insisted that Wimbledon will not follow other Grand Slams in changing the rules.

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"It’s pretty safe to say that from Wimbledon’s point of view, 14 days for the Championships is enough," he said. "When it was a 13-day event, the middle Sunday was absolutely about watering the courts to make sure it was going to be still alive for the latter part of the tournament. Centre Court is the one that gets played on the most because it’s used every day and you have to have it in the best possible condition for the final weekend. It was a big decision to go to 14 days. You’re looking at 80 hours of tennis on Centre Court. The appetite to go to 15 days is zero. First and foremost, because of the courts."

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Wimbledon remains the oldest tennis competition in the world. There have been 137 editions of the event, the most recent of which was played in 2024. In that event, in the men’s singles category, it was current world number two Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz who lifted the title after beating former world number one Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-2, 7-6. In the women’s singles category, it was Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova who lifted the title after beating Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in the final with a score of 6–2, 2–6, 6–4.

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