It’s all a bit anxious for Andy

ANDY MURRAY has offered his support to stars of the women’s game who lined up yesterday to criticise Wimbledon for not giving them equal billing on the major courts. The world No 1 — and member of the All England Club — sided with them and suggested that earlier start times could accommodate a more even spread of men’s and women’s matches. The controversy flared as once again there was a 2:1 split in favour of the men on Centre Court and Court No 1, with the male ‘Big Four’ split between each. ‘It’s pretty much always been the case here, that you get two men’s matches and a women’s match on the Centre Court,’ said the world No 1 after beating Benoit Paire in straight sets. ‘Obviously I think ideally you would have two men’s and two women’s on Centre; potentially starting the matches a bit earlier would allow for that, I think. ‘(They) need to maybe find a way of allowing for an equal split of the men’s and women’s matches across the tournament rather than just looking at one day. If there’s better matches on

the women’s side than the men’s side, you can flip it.’ Richard Lewis, chief executive of the All England Club, had to defend the scheduling, which particularly upset the world No 1 Angelique Kerber. She was put on Court No 2 for her eventual defeat by Garbine Muguruza. ‘I was surprised that I was playing on Court No 2. I was looking forward to playing on one of the two big courts,’ she said. French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko (below) was on Court No 12 for her 6-3, 7-6 victory against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina. ‘I think I deserve to play on a better court than Court No 12,’ said the Latvian. ‘Elina is No 4 in the world. I thought we would play on a bigger court.’ Venus Williams agreed that the women’s matches had been overlooked. She said: ‘I’m sure that the women want more matches on Centre or Court No 1.’ The whole situation is exacerbated by having a fallow middle Sunday, unlike the other Grand Slams. Lewis defended the schedule before the start of play. ‘You have got Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who speak for themselves, and Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray,’ he said. ‘You’re left with making some difficult choices. I absolutely respect that Angelique is No 1 in the world. Garbine Muguruza is a former finalist and Grand Slam winner (at last year’s French Open). It was a tough decision. ‘But we are really spoilt for choice. There are many, many matches on Court No 2 and Court No 3 that would grace Centre Court any other day.’