The All England Club has announced that Wimbledon will be joining the national minute’s silence, planned for midday on Friday 3 July, in memory of the victims of the Tunisia attack. On that day, play on the outside courts will start at 12.15pm, instead of 11.30am.
The delay to the start of play on Day 5 is unprecedented in the history of the Championships, but it has been welcomed by the extended tennis world as an appropriate response that will allow fans to unite with the rest of the public in paying tribute to those who lost their lives to a gunman’s bullets on the beach in Sousse exactly a week earlier.
On Wednesday, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, told the House of Commons that 27 people from Britain are now known to have died in the Tunisia attack, and that number is likely to rise.
“Wimbledon will be joining the national minute’s silence on Friday and we will be asking all those in the Grounds at the time to observe the silence out of respect to the victims in Tunisia and their families,” said Richard Lewis, Chief Executive of the All England Club. All movement within the grounds and at the gates will cease as the nation falls silent.
We will be asking all those in the Grounds at the time to observe the silence...
The decision has touched many fans who have expressed appreciation via social media from all over the world. “Nice touch, Wimbledon. RIP to all that lost their lives,” wrote Jody Gray, while Amine Jrad posted the comment: “We are Tunisia...we love tennis...we love Wimbledon. We love humanity. RIP for all victims of terrorism’s attacks.”
In 2006, Wimbledon joined the national two minutes’ silence at midday on the first anniversary of the 7/7 bombings in which 52 people lost their lives. Nine years ago, though, play started at midday, so the start of play was unaffected (an 11.30am start on outside courts was introduced in 2012).
Wimbledon fan Suzanne Ellis spoke for all when she said, via a comment on Wimbledon’s Facebook page: ‘I will be there. It will be very emotional.”
