• Football
  • Boxing
  • UFC
  • Home
  • Football
    • England
    • Transfer News
    • Premier League
    • Champions League
    • Lionel Messi
    • Cristiano Ronaldo
    • EA FC 25
    • Wrexham
  • Boxing
    • Tyson Fury
    • Anthony Joshua
    • Oleksandr Usyk
    • Mike Tyson
    • Jake Paul
    • Logan Paul
  • UFC
    • Dana White
    • Conor McGregor
    • Khabib Nurmagomedov
    • Jon Jones
    • Paddy Pimblett
    • Joe Rogan
  • Other Sport
    • Athletics
    • Formula 1
    • MMA
    • Motorsport
    • NBA
    • Darts
    • NFL
    • Snooker
    • Wrestling
    • Tennis
    • Cricket
    • Golf
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube
Wimbledon To Do Away With 'Outdated' Age-Old Tradition

Home> Tennis

Published 02:31 30 May 2022 GMT+1

Wimbledon To Do Away With 'Outdated' Age-Old Tradition

The Grand Slam tournament officials are ending the honour roll tradition of having female champions initialled as 'Miss' or 'Mrs'.

Jayden Collins

Jayden Collins

Wimbledon is set to drop an age-old tradition by removing the ‘Miss’ and ‘Mrs’ when referring to females on the championship honour board. 

The Grand Slam tournament officials made the move ahead of the upcoming 2022 tournament in order to bring the honour roll more in line with that of the men’s boards.

Since the tournament's inception in 1877, the tradition has maintained that females be referred to as ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’ while the men have just been denoted with their first initial and surname. 

The debate arose again after 2021 Wimbledon winner, Australian Ash Barty was pictured in front of the board with her name initialled ‘Miss A.Barty’. 

In fact, many of the former Grand Slam winners have had their names changed after they divorced their husbands.

Advert

When Chris Evert won the 1981 Grand Slam she was married to John Lloyd with her name initialled on the honour roll as ‘Miss J.M. Lloyd’.

However, when she won in 1987 after their divorce her name read as ‘Miss C.M. Evert’, with this new rule change meaning Evert will be referred to as ‘C.M. Evert’ for all three of her Wimbledon titles. 

The likes of Billie Jean King had similarly been listed as ‘Mrs. L.W. King’ before her divorce from Larry King in 1987.

The change signals a progressive stance from Wimbledon, which has made changes in recent years to modernise the game after coming under criticism. 

Advert

The All England Lawn Tennis Club came under scrutiny in 2018 after the New York Times criticised the practice of officials identifying males and females differently during play.

The practice saw umpires identify women’s names with their titles, while males were referred to simply by their surnames.

The rule saw umpires call out ‘Game, set, match Mrs Williams’ if Serena Williams were to win a matchup, while the officials would instead say ‘Game, set, match Federer’ if Rodger Federer were to claim victory.

A year later Wimbledon decided to change the rule so that females would be referred to by their last names, a rule that has now been reflected in the honour board.

Tennis legend Novak Djokovic was surprised by the move at the time.

Advert

He said: “I thought that tradition was very unique and very special. I thought it was nice.

"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 is set for some drastic changes this year with the tournament set to not go towards ranking points after the ATP and WTP made the decision following Russian and Belarusian players being banned.

The move renders the event essentially an exhibition tournament.

Featured Image Credit: Abaca Press / Alamy. Instagram/Wimbledon.

Topics: Novak Djokovic, Tennis, Wimbledon, Australia

Jayden Collins
Jayden Collins

Jayden Collins is a Journalist at SPORTbible. He has worked across multiple media platforms in areas such as sport, music, pop culture, entertainment and politics. He is part of the editorial team for LADbible Australia.

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Novak Djokovic has made his feelings clear on Jannik Sinner doping ban as they prepare for Wimbledon clash
  • Wimbledon final umpire was sacked after calling for three rule changes in the sport
  • Novak Djokovic's stance on equal pay in tennis after angering Andy Murray with controversial comments
  • Novak Djokovic and rest of Wimbledon roster must follow strict rule that Andy Murray was given special permission to break

Choose your content:

11 hours ago
a day ago
2 days ago
  • 11 hours ago

    Jannik Sinner hits back at Nick Kyrgios after he slams Wimbledon champion over doping ban

    Jannik Sinner has responded after Nick Kyrgios was critical of his Wimbledon win over Carlos Alcaraz.

    Tennis
  • a day ago

    Nick Kyrgios aims another brutal dig at Jannik Sinner after Wimbledon champion posts message to his fans

    Jannik Sinner is the 2025 Wimbledon champion.

    Tennis
  • a day ago

    Wimbledon fans furious with what BBC did after Jannik Sinner's win and it's never happened before

    Jannik Sinner won his maiden Wimbledon title after beating Carlos Alcaraz.

    Tennis
  • 2 days ago

    Tennis fans demand Jannik Sinner do something no Wimbledon winner has ever done in unprecedented move

    Sinner defeated Carlos Alcaraz in four sets to claim his maiden Wimbledon title

    Tennis