It’s a madness which world’s best female players could make no sense of, but now it emerges that there was a method to it.
It’s a madness which world’s best female players could make no sense of, but now it emerges that there was a method to it.
According to a British newspaper, the reason why Dinara Safina (world No.1), Serena Williams (world No.2) or Svetlana Kuznetsova (world No.5) are not getting to play on the prestigious Centre Court at Wimbledon is that they are pretty low on the glamour quotient.
When it comes to choosing which women play on Centre Court, good looks count for more than big shots.
The paper also got a Wimbledon official to back their claim who admitted that being sexy counts more than a scorching forehand.
It quoted All England Club spokesman Johnny Perkins as saying: “Good looks are a factor.”
In the men’s tournament, five-time winner Roger Federer and British hope Andy Murray invariably play on Centre.
But on Friday, after Federer left the court, the next match was Victoria Azarenka of Belarus against Sorana Cirstea.
The Romanian, among the top-10 hottest women in tennis right now, is seeded 28 while Azarenka, who won, is ranked and seeded eighth.
That same day, second seed Serena Williams was relegated to the new No.2 Court for her win over Italian Roberta Vinci.
The fact that many seats remained empty for the Cirstea-Azarenka clash implies that the knowledgeable SW19 crowd were unimpressed by the tennis on offer.
But that, the paper says, indicates that the sexier females are placed on Centre Court to titillate the BBC television audience, some of whom care more for a pretty face than a powerful winner.
The paper quotes a BBC source as saying: “It’s the Wimbledon play committee, not us who decides on the order of play. But it’s advantageous to us if there are good-looking women players on Centre Court.
“Our preference would always be a Brit or a babe as this always delivers high viewing figures.”
On Wednesday, Centre Court delivered exactly that — the so-called Battle of the Babes between unseeded Gisela Dulko (world No.45) and Maria Sharapova (No.60).
Then on Thursday, ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki defeated Russian Maria Kirilenko, 59 in the world on SW19 while No.1 seed Dinara Safina was sent to an outer court.
Safina, 23, later said: “I mean of course it’s not fair but then I’m not doing the schedule.”
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