Wimbledon give a glimmer of joy to fans who had tickets for this year’s tournament

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Wimbledon general view

Tennis fans who had secured tickets for this year’s Wimbledon Championships will be given an opportunity to purchase tickets for the 2021 tournament, All England Club chiefs have confirmed.

What becomes the inevitable cancellation of Wimbledon was confirmed on Wednesday, with tennis players and fans around the world expressing their sadness as The Championships were cancelled for the first time since World War II.

Yet there is a glimmer of light amid the despair of the coronavirus crisis, with all fans who had secured tickets in the annual Wimbledon ballot now set to be given a chance to buy tickets for next year’s event.

“As mentioned in the public statement, we will be refunding your ticket purchase,” read an email to those who have already paid for tickets.

“As you can appreciate, while the Ticket Office team continues to be operational, we are working remotely in line with the government restrictions, and so this may take us some time. We appreciate your patience and ask for you not to contact us as we work through the refund process.

“We also appreciate that obtaining a ticket to The Championships can be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We are pleased to confirm that you will be given the opportunity to purchase tickets for the same day and court for The Championships 2021. We will be in touch with you in due course to confirm the timing of these offers, but it is likely to follow a similar pattern to the distribution of our lucky offers this year.

“Our efforts will now be focused on contributing to the emergency response and supporting those affected by the coronavirus crisis. We have made contact with the local authorities in Merton and Wandsworth as well as the NHS to offer our facilities and whatever other assistance we can, including equipment, and we are distributing food supplies through our partnership with City Harvest.

“Through our charity, the Wimbledon Foundation, we are offering support within our local communities, and more broadly for the London and UK population through donations to the British Red Cross, the Foundation’s emergency response charity partner.”

Wimbledon chiefs are expected to absorb much of the financial loss from the cancellation of the tournament with insurance policies that will now kick in, but the dip in revenue will be a huge blow for the Lawn Tennis Association, who are also coming to terms with the cancellation of their grass-court events that include the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen’s Club in June.

There must also be a question mark over the end-of-year ATP Finals in November, in what is due to be the final running of the event in London before a move to Turin in 2021.

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