Why ‘Middle Sunday’ at Wimbledon was stopped with matches played today

Wimbledon decided to scrap a long-running tradition for the 2022 tournament, allowing tennis fans another day to enjoy the action at the All England Lawn Tennis Club

Wimbledon is a tournament defined by its traditions, but as we’ve seen this year, the All England Lawn Tennis Club is not afraid of evolving.

One of the main talking points this year has been the scrapping of human line judges in favour of HawkEye technology. It has caused a ripple, with 300 line judges losing their jobs and players like Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper questioning the accuracy of the system.

Along with its well-dressed line judges, strawberries and cream and Henman Hill, Wimbledon used to be known for its Middle Sunday. Previously, play used to cease at the end of the first week during the two-week tournament, providing a lull in the frantic action.

That contributed to Manic Monday, when all men’s and women’s fourth-round matches would take place on the same day. But all that changed in 2022, when Wimbledon organisers decided to drop the day off.

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Previously, since the Grand Slam’s inception in 1877, Middle Sunday had only hosted play on only four occasions, in 1991, 1997, 2004 and 2016. Those were all down to wet weather, which had washed out play earlier in the week, meaning time was required to catch up.

But back in April 2021, the All England Lawn Tennis Club took the decision to scrap Middle Sunday, preferring to spread the action out over 14 days, rather than 13. Explaining the call, the AELTC said that advances in grass technology had led to improved courts and no need for a rest day.

“It’s important at this stage of the development of the sport that Wimbledon should be even more accessible to the people who want to access it and at the times at which they are best able to,” AELTC chairman, Ian Hewitt, said.

“We consider that it’s in the best interests of the tennis fans that Wimbledon should be available to be watched and attended throughout that middle weekend.”

Chief executive Sally Boulton added: “Over time Wimbledon has continuously evolved to meet changing demands and behaviours of our fans – always changing, always staying the same is something we talk about often. We want more of this wonderful event to be available to more people around the world to share in the joy of the Championships.

“Including Middle Sunday permanently in our schedule will allow us to do just that and become a new tradition which we hope we can become immensely proud of. It enables us to do more with the second Monday, which is known as ‘manic’ for good reason.”

Having another day of play obviously also has a financial incentive for the AELTC, who can welcome tennis fans into the venue for an extra day.

This year, there will be some great matches on offer on Sunday, with Sonay Kartal playing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Centre Court before world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz take to the court.