Wimbledon fans can reimagine their own Championships in absence of competition

Wimbledon has been cancelled this year. Picture: AELTC/Bob Martin

The lawns are perfectly manicured, but the ‘Keep off the Grass’ signs have never been so poignantly relevant.

Today should have marked the start of the Wimbledon tennis Championships, but as with many other sporting events this spring and summer, tennis fans are having to wait.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), which stages The Championship, will instead hold ‘Wimbledon Recreated’ - a campaign to celebrate the fortnight in the absence of this year’s competition, the centrepiece of which will be The Greatest Championships, a re-telling of some of greatest matches, made available across TV, digital and social media.

Chief executive Richard Lewis said he hoped it would “go some small way to filling the gap”.

He added: “It won’t be as good as the real thing, but we hope it will be an opportunity for us to come together even though we are apart, to demonstrate that Wimbledon is for everyone, in any way you choose to celebrate it – playing tennis, eating strawberries, or just a really good picnic.”

Fans are able to recreate Wimbledon in their own way, be it Simona Halep’s walk onto Centre Court, Novak Djokovic’s taste for grass, or Serena Williams’ serve, combined with narration by commentator Andrew Cotter, on wimbledon.com.