Wimbledon to remove 'Miss' and 'Mrs' from honours boards in move to modernise

Wimbledon will no longer have the titles ‘Miss’ and ‘Mrs’ before past female champions on their honours boards.

Over the years, the tennis grand slam has become renowned for its prestigious honours boards which are scattered around the grounds of the All England Club.

Since the tournament’s inception in 1884, the boards have had the prefix ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’ in front of each past female winner’s name.

However, according to The Times, Wimbledon have decided to scrap the prefixes in a move to modernise.

They will also change the tradition of listing the female champions who are married with the initials and surnames of their husbands.

Three years ago, the All England Club ditched the requirement for women’s players to be introduced on court by either ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’.

But it is believed that Wimbledon will continue to use the terms ‘Gentlemen’ and ‘Ladies’ to describe the action.

This latest news comes after the ATP and WTA stripped Wimbledon of its ranking points this year in response to the grand slam’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players due to the war in Ukraine.

A host of stars including Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic hit out at the All England Club for the ‘unfair’ treatment of their peers.

Meanwhile, the likes of Naomi Osaka, a former world No.1 and four-time slam winner, has suggested she may skip Wimbledon with no ranking points on offer.

Speaking this week, Andy Murray says he does not agree that this year’s championship will be reduced to an exhibition and compared the event at SW19 to the Masters in golf.

He said: ‘I follow golf closely and have no idea how many ranking points the winner of the Masters gets.

‘Me and my friends love football and none of us know or care how many ranking points a team