Wimbledon chiefs set to be hit with £250,000 bill after being forced into major schedule change

WIMBLEDON chiefs are set to be forced into a whopping £250,000 bill.

The All England Club have been dogged by horrible weather for much of the 2024 Championships.

Getty

Rain stopped play on many of the outside courts for much of Wimbledon 2024[/caption]

Reuters

Approximately 7,500 fans are eligible for refunds following Tuesday’s downpours[/caption]

Staggeringly, a month’s worth of rain – 52.6mm – fell in the first nine days according to the Met Office.

That saw many matches on Centre Court and No1 Court played under the retractable roofs, shielded from the rain.

But the constant downpours on Tuesday, day nine of the tournament, were so bad that play did not begin on the uncovered outside courts until 5pm.

As a result, 75 of the 91 scheduled matches were cancelled, with 12 carried over to Wednesday.

So Wimbledon decided to offer refunds to fans who had bought tickets but saw very little tennis.

The AELTC said: “Ticket holders who purchased a No2 Show Court ticket or a Grounds Pass before 5pm on Tuesday 9 July for The Championships 2024 are eligible for a full refund due to the rain delays and the resulting cancellation of matches.”

Just 34,922 people went to Wimbledon on Tuesday – a record low on day nine since 2018.

Of those, 15,000 were on Centre and a further 12,345 can fit inside No1.

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That leaves around 7,500 fans qualifying for their money back – around 4,000 for No2 Court and a further 3,000 with Ground Passes.

No2 Court tickets on Tuesday cost £50, while the Ground Passes were £25.

And that works out at approximately £275,000 in ticket sales to repay should everyone eligible apply for their money back.

Wimbledon declined to give an exact figure on the refund when approached for comment from SunSport.

The All England Club do have a Rain and Curtailment of Play Policy within Clause 18 of their Conditions of Sale.

As well as the financial cost of refunding the price of tickets, Wimbledon were also sent into a scheduling spiral by the rain.

They announced on Wednesday the mixed doubles final was being moved from Thursday to Sunday in a major scheduling change.

Despite the event getting underway last Friday, first-round matches only got completed on Wednesday.

Now the delayed mixed doubles final is at threat of being played in front of a sparsely-populated Centre Court crowd.

The men’s singles final starts at 2pm and could conceivably last up to five hours if it goes the full distance – Carlos Alcaraz needed four hours and 42 minutes to beat Novak Djokovic last year.

And the mixed going on after that may mean it clashes with England’s Euro 2024 final against Spain, with kick-off at 8pm.

Wimbledon have a strict ‘no football’ policy and refuse to show any matches.

PA

Play did not start on the outside courts until 5pm on Tuesday[/caption]