Learning English

Wimbledon: Return of tennis tournament

It's the start of Wimbledon - the famous tennis tournament. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was cancelled last year. Now it has returned, but at first, the tournament will only allow half the regular number of visitors in, building to full capacity crowds of 15,000 on Centre Court for the finals weekend. Learn vocabulary to talk about this news story.

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The story

Wimbledon gets underway today after being cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic. The grounds will be allowed to have half the usual crowds, building to full capacity on Centre Court for the finals in a fortnight.

Key words and phrases

washout
event ruined by heavy rain

• My son’s cricket match was a total washout! The coach cancelled the game.
• Their outdoor wedding was washed out! It rained all day!

makes the most of it
tries to enjoy something as much as possible

• Despite the rain, we made the most of our British holiday!
• Although the concert was cancelled, we still made the most of our city break!

net gain
final profit

• The company’s net gain last year was lower than expected.
• We anticipate a net gain of several thousand pounds from advertising revenue.

To do

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