The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), which stages The Championships, Wimbledon, today launched ‘Wimbledon Recreated’, a campaign to celebrate the 2020 Fortnight in the absence of this year’s Championships.  

Following the cancellation of The Championships 2020 due to health and safety concerns related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the AELTC has been overwhelmed by the passion for Wimbledon shown by our fans. And so, while there will be no live tennis this summer, the AELTC is pleased to announce our efforts to provide a Wimbledon experience during this year’s Fortnight, the centrepiece of which will be ‘The Greatest Championships,’ a re-telling of some of Wimbledon’s greatest matches, made available across TV, digital and social media.

Richard Lewis CBE, AELTC Chief Executive, commented: “It is the passion of our fans for The Championships that has shaped our event over the years, and will continue to do so. We will all be feeling the absence of The Championships this year, but we hope, through Wimbledon Recreated, to go some small way to filling the gap. It won’t be as good as the real thing, but we hope it will be an opportunity for us to come together even though we are apart, to demonstrate that Wimbledon is for everyone, in any way you choose to celebrate it – playing tennis, eating strawberries, or just a really good picnic. I would like to thank all of our fans around the world for your enthusiasm for Wimbledon, and we look forward to re-living and re-telling some of The Championships’ greatest matches throughout the 2020 Fortnight.”

Wimbledon Recreated, a sequence of recreations narrated by commentator Andrew Cotter, including Simona Halep’s walk onto Centre Court, Novak Djokovic’s taste for grass, and Serena Williams’ serve, weaved together with footage from tennis fans around the world. With more scenes to come, the film sets a challenge to all those who love Wimbledon: Recreate Wimbledon in your own way, whichever tradition, moment or memory means the most to you, and play your part in filling this year’s Championships Fortnight by using #WimbledonRecreated across all social media platforms.

The campaign will also feature a variety of additional recreations over the next three weeks, including Play The Championships – an interactive game modelled on a much-loved classic; A Wish from Wimbledon – a competition to provide some cheer; Design the 2020 Poster – an activity for schoolchildren across Merton and Wandsworth to recreate their own Wimbledon poster design; and much more.

Beginning on Monday 29 June, ‘The Greatest Championships’ will provide a round-by-round re-telling of some of the best Wimbledon matches in history, brought to life in a digital experience hosted on wimbledon.com. Developed by IBM, each match will be available to watch in full, searchable by point and excitement, alongside statistics, photo galleries and features as we seek to bring to life the stories of these momentous events. Matches will also be live streamed across Wimbledon’s social media platforms, and certain matches will be enhanced by IBM to meet modern viewing standards.

The AELTC’s broadcast partners around the world will also be playing their part in recreating Wimbledon through coverage across their platforms throughout the Fortnight. Of particular note will be the BBC’s coverage in the UK, which will look back at some of the most memorable moments of Wimbledon with a range of programming starting later this month. The BBC will be announcing their detailed plans shortly.  

The AELTC will also be working with the LTA, the governing body for tennis in Britain, in support of their new campaign to encourage people to get back on court, and promote the accessibility of tennis however and wherever you choose to play it.

Alongside Wimbledon Recreated, the AELTC is continuing to provide support for communities impacted by the pandemic, combining the use of our facilities, resources and £1.2m of charitable giving from the Wimbledon Foundation to aid the COVID-19 response and recovery efforts across society. You can read more on these efforts here.