Andy Murray condemns snub to female stars in Wimbledon's poster as 'disastrous'

New Delhi: Andy Murray has criticised Wimbledon's contentious artwork showcasing tennis's most iconic rivalries, labelling it a "disaster" due to its inadequate recognition of female players.

In a recently shared image on Wimbledon's Twitter account, a depiction of 15 renowned players descending a staircase at the All England Club drew attention.

Notably, the positioning of four of the six women were at the back, while Andy Murray was excluded entirely, with Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who have not gone beyond the quarterfinals in the grass-court grand slam, at the front.

Of the six women players, only Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova are among the front 11 players while Serena and Venus Williams, who have won a combined 12 Wimbledon singles titles, were near the back.

Speaking after his 6-4, 6-4 loss to world number six Holger Rune at the Hurlingham exhibition, Murray said "Me not being on it is certainly not a problem" but the grouping of the men at the front was "slightly strange".

"It was a disaster, wasn't it? I don't need to elaborate any more on it, it's pretty obvious if you see the poster. I guess the players that are on the poster are ones that have had incredible careers and have been unbelievably successful at Wimbledon," the 36-year-old was quoted by BBC.

"Alcaraz and Sinner are unbelievable players but it just seems strange that they were all sort of behind them. I personally don't really care that much about it. But I can see when you look at it, it's like, 'that does look a bit strange'."

Murray won two Challenger titles in the home grass-court season but suffered a first-round exit at Queen's last week.

He will not be seeded at Wimbledon, which begins on July 3.