Wimbledon Centre Court scheduling still favours 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.

None of the previous 10 Wimbledons have seen an equal number of men's and women's singles matches on Centre Court, averaging 55% on the men's side, according to analysis by the PA news agency.

This compares with 50% on Court Philippe Chatrier at the French Open, 46% in New York's Arthur Ashe Stadium and 44% 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%) - this compares with 24 of 32 (75%) for Rafael Nadal, 47 of 63 (75%) for Novak Djokovic, and 51 of 58 (88%) for Roger Federer.

At each of the other three Grand Slams, Williams has played a higher percentage of her