Wimbledon 2020 being cancelled had no financial impact on British tennis: All England club Chief Executive

Outgoing  All England club Chief Executive Richard Lewis has said that there will be no financial impact on British tennis after this year's Wimbledon got cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic. 

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The British Grand Slam was set to begin on Monday but got cancelled for the first time since World War II after coronavirus wreck havoc on the island country. 

The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) said its spending plans would not have to be curtailed.

"It won't be severely impacted. If you have to cancel, it's great to have insurance," Lewis, who will step down as the CEO next month, told British media.

"We're still in a very good position, we're financially very stable. British tennis is going to be pretty well protected."
 
But the association does not have a similar kind of insurance to cover the losses if the grand slam is cancelled in 2021. 

"That's impossible in the current climate," he said. "When I started in 2012, there were some signs that things were not insurable, because of communicable diseases that had taken place, like Sars and swine flu.

"In the immediate aftermath you can't get insurance but fairly soon after that, you can start to get insurance again, the market returns. So there won't be insurance next year.

"But just because we've made one claim, it won't affect us in the long term."

The US Open and French Open are set to resume play in the upcoming months after a long halt due to pandemic.