Wimbledon ends tradition of Miss and Mrs

WIMBLEDON bosses have decided to stop calling women champions Miss or Mrs on the club’s honours board.

The move is seen as attempt to modernise and ends a tradition started in 1884, when the first women’s championship took place.

It will bring the female board in line with the men’s, which does not include a title – just an initial and a surname.

Three years ago, the All England Lawn Tennis Club, which runs the Wimbledon Championships, dropped the use of the honorifics when umpires were announcing the names of women players.

The club is also updating the practice of giving married women who won titles the initials and surname of their husbands. For example, Chris Evert’s 1981 title triumph will be changed from ‘Mrs J M Lloyd’ – a result of her marriage to John Lloyd – to ‘C Evert Lloyd.’

However, the tournament will continue to label the events as Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ singles. It was reported that Wimbledon insiders agreed the honours board change ‘to move with the times and the use of titles had become an anachronism in an age of increasing equality’.

Men’s world number one Novak Djokovic expressed surprise in 2019 after Wimbledon umpires stopped referring to women players as Miss or Mrs.

‘I thought that tradition was very unique and very special,’ he said at the time.

‘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.’

Maud Watson was the first woman winner on the board – displayed as ‘Miss M Watson’ – after her triumph over her sister Lillian in 1884.

The news comes after the sport’s governing bodies – the Association of Tennis Professionals and the Women’s Tennis Association – withdrew ranking points when Wimbledon announced it was banning Russian and Belarusian players because of the invasion of Ukraine.