London: Wimbledon will remove the titles of “Miss” and “Mrs” in front of the names of female winners on its historic honour boards before next month’s championships to replicate the way men’s victories are marked.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club, which dropped “Miss” and “Mrs” when umpires announced the names of female players during matches in 2019, has used the honorifics in front of female champions but not male winners since 1884.
Ash Barty is the last winner of the Ladies’ Singles to get a “Miss” next to her name on the honour board.Credit:Getty
According to a report in the Times, the decision was made by the club in an effort to further modernise the tournament.
Last year’s men’s winner Novak Djokovic is recorded “N Djokovic” — but the women’s winner, recently retired Australian champion Ashleigh Barty, is on the board as Miss A Barty.
The old-fashioned practice of giving married women winners the initials and surnames of their husbands will also be changed.
Australian legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley has been listed on the boards as Mrs. R. Cawley for her 1980 championship win.
When Chris Evert won her second title in 1981, her singles title was recorded as Mrs J M Lloyd because of her marriage to John Lloyd. The new board will be altered to C Evert Lloyd for the 1981 entry. Her 1976 singles title win was Miss C M Evert. Billie-Jean King’s titles will also be changed.
No married women have won singles titles in recent years.
The move has been driven by Sally Bolton, the first female chief executive of the club since its formation. She has overseen a number of small tweaks to bridge the gender divide. Last year, she also moved to give male and female players the same towels for the first time.
The oldest tennis tournament in the sport’s history, Wimbledon was the last to decided to pay men and women equally in 2007 – 39 years after the open era began in 1968.
Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Ash Barty will both have their honour board names adjusted. Credit:Getty Images
But the club will continue to refer to the Gentlemen’s singles and the Ladies’ singles, refusing to join the other major tournaments which refers to men’s and the women’s competitions.
But the move to modernise has not always been popular. In 2019, Djokovic was one of those who expressed surprise after Wimbledon dropped the practice of umpires referring to female players with their titles but not the male ones.
“I thought that tradition was very unique and very special; I thought it was nice,” he said then. “It’s definitely not easy to alter or change any traditions here that have been present for many years. It’s quite surprising that they’ve done that.”
Wimbledon’s decision comes amid a backlash towards the grass-court tournament decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing in this year’s event.
The ATP, WTA and ITF has responded by stating that no ranking points would be awarded to competitors at Wimbledon.
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