Wimbledon will be moved back a week from 2015 to allow players extra rest after the French Open, organizers said Thursday.
Play at Wimbledon currently starts two weeks after the final at Roland Garros, but top players including Novak Djokovic have called for an extra week to allow them to recover and adapt to the grass surface after playing on clay in France.
“The best interests of tennis will be served by allowing the players more time to recuperate and to adjust from the clay of Roland Garros to the grass at Wimbledon,” All-England Club chairman Philip Brook said in a website statement.
The reason that the change will only start in 2015 is to allow tennis bosses to change the rest of the calendar to accommodate the rearranged Grand Slam, Brook said.
“In making this change from 2015 we recognise that there will be some important consequences for the overall tennis calendar and enough time needs to be given to allow us all to plan accordingly.”
Wimbledon 2015 will run from June 29 through July 12.
