WIMBLEDON will not follow the other three tennis Grand Slams and begin its Championships on a Sunday.
The US Open announced this week it will follow the Australian Open and French Open and shift to a weekend start, for the first time in the Open era, meaning 15 days of consecutive action.
Former British No1 Tim Henman is on the All England Club board but says he and his colleagues in South-West London will refrain from following the other majors.
Henman, 50, said: “It’s pretty safe to say that from Wimbledon’s point of view, 14 days for the Championships is enough.”
In 2022, the traditional rest day of middle Sunday was scrapped and there was continuous play every day on the SW19 grounds – but there will be no further significant changes to the schedule.
Henman continued: “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.
“I’ve talked before about the irony of the 11pm curfew. I’ve always thought it was slightly bizarre that one of the great sporting events in the world almost has a bedtime.
“But actually, the 11pm deadline works very, very well. It’s hard for everyone when you get these 2am, 3am, 4am finishes.”
The Australian Open introduced new courtside seating – coaching pods – which allowed players to communicate with their team during matches.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Andy Murray shows off his rapping talents on A League Of Their Own ” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”null” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6368042202112″ video_ids=”” width=”100%”]Andy Murray was seen chatting with Novak Djokovic during breaks in play as the Serbian made it to the semi-finals before retiring with injury.
But Henman insists there are no plans to introduce these swivel chairs – simply because there is no spare room on Centre Court for the innovation.
On a separate, more controversial note, there will be no line judges at Wimbledon for the first time in 147 years as the All England Club adopts electronic line calling this summer.
The AI technology will be in place for all qualifying and main draw matches, replacing the judges who were responsible for calling shots “out” and “fault” on a serve.
Henman said: “Every event on the ATP Tour will have electronic line calling this year.
“If Wimbledon had said, ‘Oh no, we’re actually going to keep line judges’, I think that would have looked very bizarre for one event.
“I completely appreciate – and Wimbledon are very aware of – the ecosystem within line judges.
“Where do our umpires come from? Where do the referees at junior tournaments come from?
“But now, when you look at the technology available with the electronic line-calling system, I think it’s absolutely the right decision.”
Henman reckons Djokovic’s “best shot” of winning a 25th tennis Major will be on Wimbledon grass where he has been singles champion on seven occasions.
The four-time semi-finalist said: “Djokovic made the final last year (he lost to Carlos Alcaraz) on the back of knee surgery.
“I’m very interested to see Djokovic’s schedule and how much he will play.
“He will want to have a certain amount of matches under his belt. But he wants to stay fresh as he gets older, as it’s tougher and tougher with the body.”
