FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 1, 2024 Former tennis player Tim Henman is seen before the start of play REUTERS/Hannah Mckay/File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) - Wimbledon organisers have "zero appetite" to turn the Championships into a 15-day event, according to former British number one and four-times semi-finalist Tim Henman.
The U.S. Open announced this week that it would extend the main draw to 15 days while the Australian Open made the step this year. The French Open changed to a Sunday start in 2006.
However, Wimbledon seems unlikely to follow suit, partly to protect the natural grass surface on Centre Court which can look threadbare by the finals weekend.
Henman, who is a member of the All England Tennis Club board, said the decision to move to 14 days by removing the middle Sunday rest day from 2022 had been a big decision.
"The big issue from when it was a 13-day event was that the middle Sunday was absolutely about watering the court to make sure that it was going to be still alive for the latter part of the tournament," he said.
"Centre Court is the one that gets played on the most because it's used every day and to have it in the best possible condition for the final weekend, it was a big decision to go to 14 days. The research and data around that, you're looking at 80 hours of tennis on Centre, that's the sort of maximum.
"I think the appetite to go to 15 days is zero, first and foremost because of the courts."
Speaking to reporters at the launch of Sky Sports' tennis coverage of the ATP and WTA Tours and U.S. Open, Henman said that the 14-day format at Wimbledon was working well and that the 11 p.m. curfew would also likely remain in place.
Matches finishing in the early hours have become a feature of the other Slams, but Wimbledon's relatively early finish is popular with players, media, organisers and fans alike.
"I've always thought it was slightly bizarre that one of the great sporting events in the world almost has, like a bedtime and you're not allowed to go past 11 p.m.," the 50-year-old former world number four and now part of the Sky Sports coverage team, said at a padel centre in London's Canary Wharf.
"But actually, the 11 o'clock deadline works very, very well. It's hard for everyone when you get these two, three, four in the morning finishes."
While tradition remains important at Wimbledon, Henman admitted there was little option other than to dispense with line judges from this year's event onwards.
"You know, every event on the ATP Tour will have electronic line calling this year," he said. "So if Wimbledon were to have taken the decision to say, 'Oh no, we're actually going to keep line judges,' I think that would have looked very bizarre."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
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