Wimbledon to drop Mrs and Miss on women’s honours board

A move for modernisation and equality across the men’s and women’s games

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Wimbledon will drop the titles “Miss” and “Mrs” before the names of female winners on its honour roll to match the men’s boards in an attempt to modernise the tournament, The Times newspaper reported.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club has traditionally used the titles just for women since its inception in 1877 - Ash Barty, last year’s champion, was referred to as “Miss A. Barty” whereas men’s winner Novak Djokovic went on the board as “N. Djokovic”.

In 2019, organisers did away with the use of honorifics when announcing scores in women’s matches but the events continue to be referred to as “gentlemen’s singles” and “ladies’ singles”.

The change will also put an end to married women being identified by both the initials and surnames of their husbands.

Billie Jean King is listed on the honours board - across six wins - as Mrs. L.W. King, despite being divorced from Larry King since 1987.

The grasscourt major, which has been stripped of ranking points by the ATP and WTA over its decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, gets underway on June 27.

That has caused controversy in itself, with Cameron Norrie suggesting it would feel like an exhibition tournament without ranking points at stake, while Andy Murray said that would never be the case and likened it to winning the World Cup in football, where nobody was aware how many points were awarded to the victorious side by Fifa.

Additional reporting by Reuters