Wimbledon finals to be played in front of full stadium after Boris Johnson announcement | Tennis | Sport
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The men’s and women’s finals at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships will have a full capacity crowd, the government has confirmed. Boris Johnson addressed the country on Monday evening to confirm that ‘Freedom Day’ on June 21 would now be delayed until July 19 over concerns of rising cases in the Delta variant of coronavirus.
But the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have now confirmed that restrictions will be eased for Wimbledon this year.
The tournament, which was postponed last year, is scheduled to start on June 28 with the world’s best players in action.
The All England Club had originally announced plans to operate at 25 per cent capacity for the two-week Grand Slam.
But that will now be increased to 50 per cent, meaning 21,000 spectators will be able to attend every day.
It means 45,000 fans may be allowed to watch the Euro 2020 final and potentially England in the last-16.
Gareth Southgate’s side must win their group to play at Wembley in the first knockout stage match.
And if they top Group D, then England could face Portugal, France or Germany for a place in the quarter-finals.
It will be the largest sporting crowd in the UK in more than 15 months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
There are also discussions ongoing about increasing capacity at the British Grand Prix as well as The Open golf championships.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden announced the government had identified close to 20 pilot events for sport and entertainment.
“The expansion of trials of the NHS app and lateral flow testing will mean that bigger crowds will be able to attend a limited number of major sporting and cultural events early this summer as part of our events research programme.
“In the next few weeks, this means more fans enjoying the Euros and Wimbledon, and some of our biggest cultural and sports events.”
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