Melissa Wilson, ex GB rower and co-founder of Athletes of the World, shares insights from the panel as well as guidance for athletes who are interested in being more involved in this area.

In the midst of fiercely-contended second round matches, and during the hottest week on record globally, the first Thursday of the Championships saw well-known names from across sport coming together for an Environment Panel hosted by Match of the Day broadcaster Gary Lineker.

Joining the panel were Olympic Champion and President of World Athletics Lord Sebastian Coe, current player and 2016 Mixed Doubles Champion Heather Watson, double Olympic Champion Hannah Mills OBE and Solheim Cup winner and current captain Suzann Pettersen.

‘A defining issue of our era’

Wimbledon Chief Executive Sally Bolton opened the event, highlighting The Championship’s dual opportunity to take action itself for the future, and also play a broader role by convening individuals and organisations to drive engagement, raise accountability and deliver solutions.

Identifying climate change as ‘a defining issue of our era’, Sally set the tone for a session in which each of the panellists were quick to acknowledge the impact climate was already having on sport - and would have in the future. This was particularly highlighted by Lord Coe, who explained that climate action is no longer a ‘nice to have’, but is now ‘absolutely central to everything we do’.

On a practical level, this stems from the climate impacts many sports are already seeing affect their training and competition. World Athletics has already seen 75% of their elite track and field athletes report that climate change has impacted their training programmes, racing programmes and their ability to compete.

But a key part of the rationale behind this is also sport’s core commitment to engaging young people - many of whom are increasingly concerned about the future wellbeing of the planet. Coe reflected that young people ‘look at [sports] and they ask… “Do you reflect the world that I live in?”. It’s important for us to show that we actually care about the things they care about.’

For tennis long term, the rising temperatures pose serious challenges to the performance and health of both current and future players - especially given that match times can run to several hours, with no opportunity for players to be ‘subbed out’ to escape the heat.

Whilst some sports are able to adjust competition locations based on temperature considerations, many of tennis’s most iconic events - including Wimbledon itself - are held in mid-summer and in a single location, in countries that are seeing temperatures ratcheting up towards 50 degrees and beyond the point human physiologies can reasonably be expected to adapt. Olympic sailor Hannah Mills reflected that ‘we are running out of time rapidly’ to make the changes needed to protect sport and the rest of the planet.