More women’s matches than men’s have been scheduled on Wimbledon’s show courts for the first time in 25 years, a campaigner has said.
Eleven women’s matches have been scheduled for the tournament’s six most prestigious courts on Wednesday, and 10 men’s matches. The number on the two main show courts is four to two, with Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki among those appearing.
A gender disparity in scheduling has been a source of controversy for Wimbledon. Mark Leyland, a novelist, campaigner and tennis fan, found that in every year from 1993 to 2017 more men’s than women’s matches were scheduled on Centre and No 1 courts, with an average of 61% men’s and 39% women’s matches.
He said Wednesday was a historic day. On Monday and Tuesday, there was an even split between women’s and men’s matches on the six show courts, which Leyland said indicated “something has had an effect”.
Before the tournament started, Chris Evert suggested the men’s and ladies’ finals could alternate between the final Saturday and Sunday of the championships. Since 1969, the men’s final has been played the day after the women’s final.
Anne Keothavong, the Fed Cup captain for Great Britain, also suggested they could alternate between the reigning men’s champion and reigning women’s champion playing the opening match on Centre Court on day one of the championships. At the moment, it is always the reigning men’s champion who does so, with the women’s title-holder being first up on the tournament’s main court on Tuesday.
When asked on Monday about putting more women’s games on Centre and No 1 courts specifically, Richard Lewis, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) chief executive, said: “We’ve always had a policy of putting on marquee matches on those courts. People want to see marquee matches, whether its men’s, women’s or doubles.”
He also rejected the idea of alternating the men’s and women’s singles finals on a Sunday and/or alternating between the reigning men’s and women’s champion opening the tournament.
“There’s a long, long history and tradition of opening the championships at 1pm on the first Monday and the women’s champion opening on the Tuesday. It works very well. Having the ladies’ singles final on the Saturday works very well.”
AELTC has previously said scheduling is complex and dictated by spectators’ expectations.
