The organisers of Wimbledon are determined to use the famous tennis tournament as a “force for good” despite its absence from the 2020 sporting calendar.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) was forced to cancel this year’s Championships because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Nonetheless the club says it will combine the use of its facilities, resources and £1.2million of charitable giving to aid the response to the pandemic as well as the recovery efforts across society.

WELLBEING

The funds will be distributed to a variety of organisations including St John’s Ambulance, who support the tournament, and to the international Players’ Relief Programme set up by tennis’ governing bodies, while the AELTC will also donate to the emergency services and London hospitals as well as the NHS Charities Together COVID-19 Urgent Appeal. The Wimbledon Foundation will continue to support local charities.

AELTC chair Ian Hewitt said: “As we navigate a year without a Championships, our highest priority continues to be the health and wellbeing of all those who make Wimbledon happen and those for whom this pandemic has caused suffering and loss.

“We strongly believe that Wimbledon has the responsibility and the capacity to act as a force for good, using our resources to help those in need, particularly in a crisis such as this.

COMMUNITIES

“We have worked hard to develop a wide-ranging series of measures to provide the help that we can to those in our local and regional communities who are most affected as we begin the period of recovery, which we recognise is going to continue to cause hardship for many for some time.

“We continue to be humbled by the passion shown for Wimbledon by fans all around the world since our cancellation announcement, and we look forward to a time when we will be able to come together again.”

Pic credit: StreetGames.