Judy Murray wants Serena to speak up for change

Judy Murray has been fighting for women in tennis her whole career and has now called on Serena Williams and other top players to follow her lead.

Williams is a vocal advocate of women’s rights and empowering women but Murray is concerned that the players driving through changes in the sport are male and that the women’s game could be left behind.

From Billie Jean King to Venus Williams, who was a key figure in securing equal prize money at all the grand slams, female players over the past 50 years have not been afraid to get political.

Murray was one of several to voice exasperation last week when plans to radically transform the Davis Cup made no mention of Fed Cup, a competition in dire need of reform.

Murray resigned as Great Britain Fed Cup captain two years ago partly because of her frustration at the format, and she said: “I think it needs more of the top women players to push for change on the women’s side of the game because change is always driven from the top. So, if somebody ranked 60 or a Fed Cup captain from a lower zone like myself [calls for change], of course it will have some kind of impact, but it doesn’t drive anything through. On the

men’s side, if you’ve got Andy and Rafa and Roger and Novak pushing for change, whether that’ s davis Cup or better distribution of the profits from the grand slams, they’re going to sit up and take notice. But we need top women to do the same thing.

“Serena, now that she’s had a baby girl, I’m hoping as she comes towards the end of her career that she will use her voice to make things change for women. It’s not all about equal prize money, it’s about grass-roots opportunities and helping the female game across the world get stronger.”

Murray has worked on the grass-roots and trying to attract more women into tennis. She created two programmes: Miss Hits, an introduction for girls aged five to eight, and She Rallies, to grow the number of females playing and coaching in Britain.