The Wimbledon honor board for the women's competition will look different this year. After a long tradition of listing women champions as "Miss" or "Mrs.," the All England Club decided to make the necessary adjustments to have that board look the same as the men's one. This was first reported by The Times of London.
In previous years, female winners' names were displayed differently based on whether or not they were married. For example, a male tennis star such as Novak Djokovic -- a six-time Wimbledon champion -- has his name listed as N. Djokovic all six times. There was never a "Mr." in front of it.
Meanwhile, Chris Evert did not see her three titles written the same way. Her 1974 and 1976 championships were listed on the honor board as "Miss C.M. Evert." However, her name for the 1981 title was written as "Mrs. J.M. Lloyd," because she was married to John Lloyd from 1979 to 1987.
"I have always used my maiden name in tennis. I began my career, became a champion, and ended my career as Chris Evert!" she told the AP via text message. "As proud as I was to be married to John at the time, it was my name that deserved to be on the honor board!!!"
The removal or "Miss" and "Mrs." is the latest change that Wimbledon has done to create more equality between men and women tennis players in their competitions. In 2007, female players were finally given the same check amount for claiming the tournament title. Until 2019, umpires used "Miss" or "Mrs." when announcing the names in the women's competition.
The 2022 Wimbledon Championships are set to start June 27 and go until July 10.
