Tim Henman says whether Wimbledon could follow in the US Open's footsteps and add a 15th day

Tim Henman says whether Wimbledon could follow in the US Open’s footsteps and add a 15th day

Posted by author February 2, 2025 Tennis

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The first Grand Slam of 2025 has just concluded, with the French Open now set to follow the Australian Open, but Wimbledon has found itself in the limelight.

Wimbledon will commence on a Monday, the only Grand Slam to do so after the US Open confirmed it will start on Sunday from the 2025 tournament.

The Australian Open that decision last month, with the French Open having made the move all the way back in 2006.

Carlos Alcaraz is the two-time Wimbledon defending champion, with the Spaniard having beaten Novak Djokovic on both occasions.

Wimbledon organisers are currently preparing for the latest edition of the event, which takes place from June 30th to July 13th.

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

Tim Henman confirms ‘zero’ appetite for 15-day Wimbledon

And according to Tim Henman, who is an All England Tennis Club board member, a 15th day is out of the question, having only moved from 13 days to 14 days in 2022.

“I think the appetite to go to 15 days is zero, first and foremost because of the courts,” said the former British number one, as quoted by Sky Sports.

READ MORE: Tim Henman and Alex Corretja predict who will win more Grand Slams in 2025 between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz

“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.

“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.”

Tim Henman says line judges at Wimbledon would be ‘very bizarre’

A major change at Wimbledon has, however, already been confirmed for the next tournament, with line judges abolished at SW19.

Wimbledon fans aren’t happy with no line judges, with artificial intelligence replacing human officials for the first time in the competition’s 147-year history.

READ MORE: Tim Henman and Alex Corretja predict who will finish 2025 top of the ATP and WTA rankings

It is, however, a decision that simply had to be made in the eyes of Henman, who said: “You know, every event on the ATP Tour will have electronic line calling this year.

“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.”

Arguably the most traditional of the four Grand Slams, it is Roger Federer and Martina Navratilova who boast the most titles with eight and nine respectively.