Wimbledon doesn’t start until Monday, but the tennis tournament is already in trouble. A tweet designed to get audiences excited about the “next generation of headline acts” was accompanied by a very bad illustration of 15 players, in which the women are right at the back of the line.
British tennis star Andy Murray, who is known for taking a stand against sexism in the sport, condemned the poster as a “disaster” and described it as “strange.” His absence from the illustration is not the issue.
In a reference to the “Gods of Tennis” series on the BBC, Wimbledon’s message is that “we’ve witnessed epic rivalry after epic rivalry, lifting the sport to new heights.” But the quality of the drawing and the distinctly old-fashioned demotion of women will fail to get anyone excited about the tennis to come.
Sponsors like Evian, Barclaycard and Vodafone probably hope the All England Lawn Tennis Club is a safe bet for their bucks, but these days there are pitfalls everywhere.
Wimbledon was the last of the Grand Slam tournaments to give equal prize money to female players, in 2007.
