Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Wozniacki ramps up Wimbledon sexism row

Updated June 24, 2011 23:14:00

World number one Caroline Wozniacki added to the growing controversy over Wimbledon's decision to banish leading female stars to the outside courts as the Dane insisted she deserved to play on Centre Court.

Wozniacki was the latest woman to be scheduled away from the All England Club's two main show courts while lower ranked players like Feliciano Lopez and Daniela Huntuchova were placed on Centre Court on Friday.

Defending women's champion Serena Williams launched a scathing attack on club officials, effectively accusing them of sexism, after she and sister Venus - who have nine Wimbledon titles between them - were both sent to play on Court Two this week.

Wozniacki ignored her exile on Court Two to beat France's Virginie Razzano 6-1, 6-3 and set up a third round clash against Australian 27th seed Jarmila Gajdosova.

But the 20-year-old was unhappy at being shoved out to the far reaches of the complex and said: "Obviously I think I deserve to play on one of the bigger courts.

"Hopefully my next match I'll have the chance to play on one of the bigger ones. We have to see."

The main reason why so many top women have played away from Centre Court and Court One is the All England Club's unofficial policy of having two men's matches in the three ties scheduled on each of the show courts.

Wozniacki claims that is unfair and she added: "I think everyone wants to play on Centre Court. I think some days it would be nice if there were two women's matches in there.

"It's tradition and I think the traditions are tough to change here. It's Wimbledon, so you never know. Here you just need to play.

"It's up to the tournament to decide where we're going to play. I just go out there and I try to win.

"Serena played on Court 2 and she's won here so many times. So if she can play on Court 2, then I guess I can too."

Wozniacki has failed to make it past the Wimbledon fourth round in four attempts.

But the 20-year-old needed 59 minutes to win her first round match and she made short work of dispatching Razzano in just over an hour.

Razzano played the recent French Open in honour of her fiance and coach Stephane Vidal, who died from a brain tumour last month.

The world number 96 is determined not to let the tragedy ruin her career and she enjoyed a gritty three-set victory over India's Sania Mirza in the first round.

But she never looked likely to shock Wozniacki after losing the first set in emphatic fashion.

Wozniacki's power and precision was too much for Razzano to handle and the Dane broke for a 3-1 lead in the second set before serving out the match.

- AFP

Tags: sport, tennis, united-kingdom, england

First posted June 24, 2011 23:00:00


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