Wimbledon Championships - Schedule

Schedule

Each year (currently until 2015), the tournament begins on the Monday falling between 20 and 26 June, two weeks after the Queen's Club Championships, which is one of the men's major warm-up tournaments. Another important men's warm-up tournament is the Gerry Weber Open, which is held in Halle, Germany during the same week as the Queen's Club Championships. Other important grass-court tournaments before Wimbledon are Eastbourne, England, and 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, both combining mixed events. The other women's warm-up tournament for Wimbledon is Birmingham, also in England. After the Championships each year there is a tournament at Newport, Rhode Island, USA.

Wimbledon is scheduled for 13 days, beginning on a Monday and ending on a Sunday. The five main events span both weeks, but the youth and invitational events are held mainly during the second week. Traditionally, there is no play on the "Middle Sunday", which is considered a rest day. However, rain has forced play on the Middle Sunday three times, in 1991, 1997 and 2004. On each of these occasions, Wimbledon staged a "People's Sunday", with unreserved seating and readily available, inexpensive tickets, allowing those with more limited means to sit on the show courts. If the tournament is not completed by the end of the second Sunday, all remaining matches are postponed until "People's Monday".

From 2015, the championships will begin one week later than in previous years, extending the gap between the tournament and the French Championships from two to three weeks.