Venus calls for court equality at Wimbledon

TIL Desk Sports/ Venus Williams called on Wimbledon schedule makers to treat female stars with the same respect as male champions after she was shunted out to unglamourous Court 18 on Thursday. Williams, a five-time Wimbledon champion, was a surprise choice to play on one of the All England Club’s smaller outside courts for her 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 over Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari.

Former Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova tweeted “it stinks” when she learnt of the scheduling move. Venus, 36, was followed on to the court by Australian Open champion and fourth seed Angelique Kerber, while on Centre Court, Japan’s Kei Nishikori faced France’s Julien Benneteau in a match between two players without a Major title.

On Court One, Wimbledon’s second largest arena, Grigor Dimitrov and Gilles Simon clashed, while Dominic Thiem and Jiri Vesely also played — with none of them having won a Grand Slam. In contrast, Venus has seven Major titles to her credit and, while she said she had no qualms about playing on any court, she made it clear she felt the Wimbledon chiefs, who were the last of the four Grand Slams to agree to equal prize money, were prioritising men over women. “It’s not the ideal schedule for the women. We’d like to see equal amount of matches. We don’t want more, just the same amount, that’s all,” she said.