Wimbledon Defines Serena Williams—and All Female Competitors—By Their Marital Status
On Wednesday (July 4) at the Wimbledon Grand Slam Tournament, tennis icon Serena Williams added another victory to her long list of wins in a second-round singles match against Viktoriya Tomova. While the world saw the win as one for "Serena Williams," the All England Club, which hosts Wimbledon, referred to the athlete in another way: "Mrs. Williams."
Williams married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in November 2017, but did not take his last name (hence why she isn't called "Mrs. Ohanian"). Still, Wimbledon follows a "courtesy" tradition, according to The New York Times, that dictates female winners at the tournament must be listed on the venue's board of champions—and throughout the tournament—in a way that reflects their marital status. This basically allows the spouses of female competitors to take some credit for their wives' athletic feats, as its their first initials and last names that are given on the leaderboard. Additionally, at the end of every match, the winner is announced by her marital title in the "Game, set, match" call by the chair umpire.
Although "Ms." and "Mrs." precede every female athlete's name, male competitors at Wimbledon are simply announced by their first initial and last name. This isn't the only instance of inequality at Wimbledon: The tournament was the last of the Grand Slam events to offer equal prize money to male and female competitors.
The New York Times reported that Williams hasn't decided what she actually would like to be called—or whether Wimbledon will accept her decision. “It still doesn’t register that I’m married actually,” Williams said regarding her title, according to the Times. “So much has happened in the past 12 months.” Still, the way Williams—and other female athletes—are referred to throughout Wimbledon draws attention to their marriages instead of their performances and merits as elite athletes.
Wimbledon's so-called courtesy titles are one of many areas where the tennis world falls behind in treating male and female athletes equally in the name of tradition. As Glamour reported earlier this year, Williams' return to the Grand Slam tennis tournaments came at a lower rank because the birth of her daughter was treated like an injury. And despite Williams' prowess on the tennis court, she did not rank among the world's 100 highest-paid athletes—nor did a single woman, for that matter.
Clearly, tennis has a long way to go until female competitors are treated equally. Here's hoping the sports world is paying attention.
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