Wimbledon to finally ditch the ‘Miss’ and ‘Mrs’ prefixes on its famous honours boards as it modernises

The All England Lawn Tennis Club will finally move with the times as it will at long last drop the “Miss” and “Mrs” prefixes of women’s champions on the Wimbledon honours boards.

The move means that the presentation of the female champions will now be in line with the male winners while they will also no longer list female champions who are married with the initials and surnames of their husbands.

Since the ladies’ singles was introduced at SW19 in 1884, women’s and men’s names have been presented differently as the men’s champions are recorded by their first-name initial and surname with the 2021 winner Novak Djokovic simply going by “N Djokovic”.

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That was in contrast to women’s champion Ashleigh Barty as she was honoured as “Miss A Barty”.

Meanwhile, Chris Evert is presented as “C.M. Evert” for her 1974 and 1976 Wimbledon titles, but was immortalised as “Mrs. J.M. Lloyd” for her 1981 triumph following her marriage to John Lloyd. The 1981 version stayed despite their divorce in 1987.

https://t.co/acN9rvLq16

— Chris Evert (@ChrissieEvert) May 26, 2022

American icon Billie Jean King is listed as “Mrs. L.W. King” for her five wins even though she divorced Larry King in 1987 while Australian great Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s 1980 title win is recorded “Mrs R Cawley” after she married Roger Cawley in 1975.

The latest move to modernise comes three years after the All England Club decided that umpires no longer have to