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Wimbledon prepared to move Posted: Friday January 10, 2003 1:26 PMUpdated: Friday January 10, 2003 9:42 PM LONDON (AP) -- Wimbledon is prepared to move its tournament back a week if tennis officials decide to rejig the season tennis calendar. Wimbledon officials have long favored stretching the gap between the French Open from two weeks to three, a move being investigated by the International Tennis Federation. All England Club chief executive Chris Gorringe said Friday he favored the change, but said it could not happen before 2005. "We believe there is a good case for extending the current gap of two weeks between the French Open and the Championships [Wimbledon] by a third week," he said. He said the extra week would give players more time to practice on grass and help them recover from clay-court injuries. Spokesman Johnny Perkins said Wimbledon officials have been lobbying to move the two-week tournament back a week. He said the plan now has momentum with the ITF and the WTA and ATP tours looking at other changes to the jammed tennis schedule. This could include moving the Australian Open from January to March. The chairmen of the four Grand Slam tournaments are to meet next week in Melbourne, Australia, to talk about the changes. Wimbledon, played the last week of June and the first of July, is a major fixture on the British sports calendar. Moving it back a week could put it into conflict with golf's British Open. "Tennis would look after its own calendar, but it's not in our interests to clash with the British Open," Perkins said. Moving the Australian Open to March would also clash with the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix and in 2006 with the Commonwealth Games.
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