Tennis fans have hit out at Wimbledon after they installed gender-neutral toilets at the venue.
The world-famous tennis tournament gets underway later today with full capacity crowds expected for the first time since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wimbledon say the gender-neutral toilets were added as part of a Logisitics Hub during the pandemic in 2020.
Wimbledon has been slammed after installing gender-neutral toilets
John Walton
The tournament gets underway later today
Steven Paston
But the decision has been slammed by many, who believe the move is unnecessary.
One woman said: “Wimbledon is about tradition; it doesn’t have to follow every fad.”
A spokesperson for the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club told MailOnline: “A toilet at Gate 1D which has a gender-neutral sign was part of a build back in 2020.”
It comes after Wimbledon confirmed last month its intention to update the way it represents female champions on its honours boards.
Traditionally, the names of female winners have been given the prefix ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’ whilst men have merely been referenced by their first initial.
The All England Club acknowledged a report in the Times that revealed it was making the move in order to further modernise the tournament.
In a further move, married winners will be recorded using their own names, rather than those of their husbands, as was applied to Chris Evert, who appeared as ‘Mrs. J.M. Lloyd’ when she won the tournament in 1981.
The move to further equality follows the ruling in 2019 that umpires should no longer refer to female players with a prefix, instead joining the practice of referencing male players simply by their surnames.
