Wimbledon braced for World Cup clash in BBC headache as schedule confirmed | Tennis | Sport

The BBC could be in for a headache this summer, as there will be some inevitable schedule clashes between Wimbledon and the World Cup. The All England Club have confirmed the schedules for this year’s matches and there could well be some overlap with football’s biggest tournament. As of last year, the two singles finals have been pushed back to begin at 4pm local time. They previously started at 2pm on the final Saturday and Sunday of the tournament, respectively.

With this year’s edition of the Championships now 100 days away, the All England Club has confirmed that the singles finals will again be held at 4pm, with the men’s and women’s doubles finals beginning at 1pm on the last two days.

The women’s singles final takes place on Saturday, July 11, which clashes with the World Cup quarter-finals. If England top the group and make it all the way to the last eight, they will kick off at 10pm UK time – six hours after the beginning of the Wimbledon women’s final.

This likely shouldn’t cause too much of a problem for the BBC, as the women play best-of-three set matches at Grand Slams. Last year, in the women’s singles final, Iga Swiatek stunned Amanda Anisimova to win 6-0 6-0 in just 57 minutes. It was the first double-bagel in a Wimbledon final since 1911, and the first in the Open Era.

If the Wimbledon final turns into a tighter battle, much like the two-hour and 40-minute championship match at last year’s French Open, which saw Coco Gauff beat Aryna Sabalenka in three sets, the BBC’s coverage could go into the evening – especially including the trophy ceremony and any post-match analysis.

The later start time may also pose a problem for Wimbledon organisers, especially for the men’s final, which is a best-of-five set contest. In 2023, Alcaraz needed four hours and 42 minutes to beat Novak Djokovic 1-6 7-6(6) 6-1 3-6 6-4 in what became the third-longest Wimbledon final in history by duration.

And at last year’s French Open, the Spanish star saved three championship points to beat Sinner in a thrilling final which went down to a final set tiebreak. The match lasted five hours and 29 minutes.

Add in things like changeovers, potential off-court bathroom breaks, and medical timeouts, and a five-set Wimbledon men’s final could run well into the night with a 4pm start time. In that case, the match would likely need to be suspended for a few minutes so the roof can be closed in order to turn the lights on.

This year’s Wimbledon Championships will take place from June 29 to July 12, coinciding with the knockout stages of the World Cup. There will be World Cup games on 12 of the 14 days of the Championships.

The biggest clash may come on Wednesday, July 1, when second-round matches take place in SW19. Should England emerge as Group L winners, they will play their first knockout game at 5pm UK time, when competition at Wimbledon will be well underway. Should a big name, like Novak Djokovic, or a Brit, like Emma Raducanu, be playing on Centre Court at the same time, the BBC will have to decide who gets top billing on BBC One, and who goes to BBC Two.

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