Billie Jean King’s ‘pet peeve’ is Wimbledon’s ‘horrible’ all white uniform policy
The tennis great has complained that the all white uniforms players wear and for which the tournament offers them new versions each summer are not “the proper sportswear”.
By The Newsroom Thursday, 6th June 2017, 9:37 am Updated Friday, 3rd July 2017, 11:59 am
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The Wimbledon Championship is set to start its final singles tournament of the current professional era tonight as the women’s singles draw remains on showpiece court number one.
But tennis’s biggest draw will have to look elsewhere for the next week until the tournament returns to the same court again in early July, following a one-year break from indoors competition.
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This time round, the draw was put together by tournament organiser Maria Teresa Fernandez, who was joined by an additional nine other judges.
The final three qualifiers for the men for the tournament were awarded to Russia, Belarus and New Zealand, in the run-up to the tournament’s opening on July 1, after a long discussion between the chair of the competition and the ATP World Tour.
In a joint statement to The Independent, both Maria Teresa Fernandez, of the ATP Tour and the chair of the Wimbledon Championships, Andy Gardiner, called for a level playing field for players and spectators.
He said: “The last few years, Wimbledon has led the way on the sportswear debate; particularly in their choice of dress.
“Some have criticised the tournament for their decision to bring back the green uniforms, which they said were not ‘the proper sportswear’.
“The fact is that the tournament is a very popular sporting event with the public and all three of the current grand slam champions come from the same part of the world as we do.
“Given that, I firmly believe that all players, fans and tournament organisers should be treated equally and that all the players should have their names properly displayed on the draw.”
The Wimbledon Championship will continue with the all