Martina joins the demand for more women on biggest stage

NINE-TIME Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova has called on the All England Club to change its ‘lopsided’ favouritism towards men’s matches. On Monday, four out of the six slots across Centre Court and Court No 1 were taken by men’s games, leaving matches such as Angelique Kerber v Garbine Muguruza out on Court No 2. Kerber, Venus Williams and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko led the complaints on Monday and Navratilova backs them. ‘That’s been going on for decades,’ said the 60-yearold American. ‘It needs to change because it really is lopsided. Maybe they should start at noon and play four matches, just like you have on the other courts, and then you can have two men’s and two women’s.’ Navratilova, who won a staggering 59 Grand Slam titles in singles and doubles, added: ‘As a defending champion in ’79 I played my first match on Centre Court. The next one was on Court 1, the next one was on Court 2. And then I ended up on Court 4 for my round of 16 with about 100 people watching. The guys are definitely given preferential treatment in the schedule. The top guys never see the outside of Centre or Court 1. ‘Venus played on Court 2 last year, I don’t think Serena has played on Centre as much as she should have done. It’s the WTA and the ATP and the ITF — they all need to get organised and figure it out.’ Lindsay Davenport, who won the singles here in 1999, agrees that the answer may be earlier start times on the two main show courts, an idea that Andy Murray endorses. Davenport, 41, said: ‘Every year on this Monday, all men in the round of 16 and all women have played and it’s always been the case that the women only get two matches (across Centre and No 1). One year Venus Williams played Anna Kournikova, two of our biggest names, and they were first on Court 18. And you could see all the ground pass holders sprinting there. It’s not a new problem. ‘Maybe they could start at 12, play four matches, two and two on both main courts.’