Wimbledon analysis: Centre Court scheduling continues to favour men

Wimbledon’s Centre Court is the only one of the four main Grand Slam show courts that continues to see more men’s matches than women’s, analysis by the PA news agency reveals.

None of the previous 10 Wimbledons have seen an equal number of men’s and women’s singles matches on Centre Court, averaging 55 per cent on the men’s side.

This compares with 50 per cent on Court Philippe Chatrier at the French Open, 46 per cent in New York’s Arthur Ashe Stadium and 44 per cent in Australia’s Rod Laver Arena.

The Australian and French Opens both scheduled more women’s matches on their main show court than men’s in 2022, as did the US Open in 2021.

An All England Club spokesperson told PA: “The scheduling of the order of play each day at The Championships is a complex operation.

“We take great care when scheduling matches and allocating courts. All decisions are made with fairness and the best interests of the tournament, players, spectators and our worldwide broadcast audience at heart.

“There are unique challenges posed by being a grass-court tournament given the need to maintain the integrity of the living surface across a 14-day Championships. This limits us to a certain number of matches per day. In 2021, across Centre and Number One Courts, we were proud to achieve an even gender balance of matches across the fortnight.”

Serena Williams, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, has played a lower proportion of her matches on Centre Court in the last 10 tournaments than the top male players.

Williams has been scheduled on Centre for 34 of her 47 matches (72 per cent) – this compares with 24 of 32 (75 per cent) for Rafael Nadal, 47 of 63 (75 per cent) for Novak Djokovic, and 51 of 58 (88 per cent) for Roger Federer.

At each of the other