Wimbledon to stop use of 'Miss' and 'Mrs' on women's honours boards

Wimbledon is set to remove the titles ‘Miss’ and ‘Mrs’ from the women’s honours boards in its latest equality drive.

The decision comes three years after umpires stopped calling out titles during score updates at women’s matches.

The All England Club will drop the honorifics from the lists of winners and will install new boards next month, ready for the upcoming tournament.

Including a player’s title next to her name is a format that has been in place since Wimbledon first introduced the women’s singles in 1884. However, the men are not listed as ‘Mr’ on the honours boards.

For example, last year, Ashleigh Barty made the winners’ list for the first time and was named as ‘Miss A Barty’. Men’s champion Novak Djokovic on the other hand, was simply ‘N Djokovic’.

This summer, the winner of the women’s singles will be listed in the same format as her male counterpart — forename initial and surname — for the first time in more than 130 years.

As reported by The Times, Wimbledon insiders described this change as an effort ‘to move with the times’ and stated ‘the use of titles had become an anachronism in an age of increasing equality.’

Six-time Wimbledon champion and 20-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic admitted he was surprised when the English tournament opted to drop honorifics from women’s names during umpire callings.

“I thought that tradition was very unique and very special; I thought it was nice,” the Serbian said back in 2019.

“It’s definitely not easy to alter or change any traditions here that have been present for many years. It’s quite surprising that they’ve done that.”

The decision to ditch titles from the honours board came after Wimbledon faced backlash over banning Russian and Belarusian players from this