Wimbledon adds gender neutral toilets in tournament's latest 'woke' move

28 June 2022, 00:04

Wimbledon has added gender-neutral toilets in the prestigious tournament's latest "woke" move.

The new staff facilities were installed near the front entrance to the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

The news came as the prestigious tennis tournament got under way, with Britain's Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu among those to make it through the opening round.

It follows Wimbledon's move to remove the "Mrs" and "Miss" titles on the board of women's champions as it hopes to modernise the tournament.

Female winners were previously listed as "Miss S. Williams" or "Miss S. Graf" while men have only been referred to by their initials, such as "N. Djokovic".

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Married players who win the championship will also now be referred to by their own name, instead of their husband's.

This happened to Chris Evert, the former American number one who won Wimbledon in 1981. She was listed as "Mrs J.M. Lloyd" won it in 1981, with organisers having given Evert her husband's name.

Wimbledon did not pay women and men equal prize money until 2007.

The cash prize stood at £1.7m for the winner of the men's and women's tournament last year.

Previously, Wimbledon told umpires to stop referring to women players with their prefix, and instead refer to them by their surnames, which brings them in line with the male players.

But while the tournament has focused on modernising, it controversially banned Russian and Belarusian athletes over the invasion of Ukraine.

That decision upset some in the game, including Martina Navratilova, calling it the "wrong decision", while Novak Djokovic said he could understand both sides of the argument.