Wimbledon 2009: Attractive tennis players get Centre Court treatment – report

The mystery behind the placement of some lower-ranked players at the Centre Court in this year’s Wimbledon is now out in the open and that’s GOOD LOOKS!

All England Club spokesman Johnny Perkins was quoted by London’s Daily Mail newspaper on its report saying: “Good looks are a factor… It’s not a coincidence that those (on Centre Court) are attractive.”

Higher seeded players such as defending champion Venus Williams, last year’s runner Serena Williams, top seed Dinara Safina and fourth seed Elena Dementieva had been assigned in other courts during earlier rounds.

Meanwhile, players such as 24th seed Maria Sharapova (ranked 59th), unseeded Argentine Gisela Dulko, 27th seed Sorana Cirstea, 8th seed Victoria Azarenka and 9th seed Caroline Wozniacki got Centre Court treatment.

A source from BBC was quoted by Daily Mail saying: “It’s the Wimbledon play committee, not us who decides on the order of play. But obviously it’s advantageous to us if there are good-looking women players on Centre Court.”

“No one has heard of many of the women now, so if they are pretty it definitely gives them an edge.Our preference would always be a Brit or a babe as this always delivers high viewing figures,” the source added.

Players such as this year’s French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova voiced out her confusion on the court assignments last week.

“It’s weird. If you look at the schedule, it’s not only about me. It’s about [world No. 1] Dinara [Safina] on court No. 2, Venus [Williams] on court No. 1 and the girls who are not very highly seeded, they play on centre. But this is what’s weird for me: what’s their strategy? What’s their plan of making the schedule? This is what surprises me a little bit,” she was quoted as saying.

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