The expansion that Wimbledon has long coveted is at last on the brink of going ahead. It is news that was warmly welcomed in the tennis world as word quickly spread among the various player WhatsApp chat groups that planning permission had been granted by the Greater London Authority.

There will be legal challenges to come, according to the large group of objectors who gathered at City Hall for the public hearing on Friday, but there is at last a sense among All England Club officials that there is light at the end of the tunnel in this long process. All going well, the first spade will go into the ground of the old Wimbledon Park Golf Club early next year.

For those inside the