Picture Credit: Twitter
On Tuesday, June 20 Wimbledon unveiled its official social media channels an image of 15 champions from past and present walking down the stairs of the main building. The gesture has backfired as the club missed on many Wimbledon winners including British star Andy Murray. The family of two-time Wimbledon winner has heavily criticized Wimbledon for its ignorance.
The All England Club captioned the post, “At Wimbledon, we've witnessed epic rivalry after epic rivalry, lifting the sport to new heights. Here's to the next generation of headline acts…”
The image features the likes of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena and Venus Williams, and Martina Navratilova all walking down the stairs of the main building at SW19. Murray won the tournament twice in 2013 and 2016 but still wasn’t included in the picture. Murray became the UK's first male singles champion in 77 years when he won his first title in 2013.
Murray’s uncle Niall Erskine tweeted, “Appalling at every level, all about the men in the forefront and your own British history-maker nowhere to be seen. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
Elder brother Jamie – who is a two-time mixed-doubles champion himself, questioned the organisers, “Where’s Andy Murray?”
Even the fans have been outraged by the mistake as other legends like Steffi Graf, Rod Laver, Billie Jean King, Jimmy Connors, and Pete Sampras were also not included. LA-based freelance illustrator Grant Gruenhaupt cleared the air by saying, “Worry not Jamie, there are more paintings on the way. This one features the greatest rivalries of the past and present as they make the historic walk through the clubhouse and onto Centre Court.”
The picture also features Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and Italian Jannik Sinner, who have never made it past the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam but were included as a representation of the "next generation".
