Traditions are often tough at Wimbledon, but there are societal developments that are hard to put aside indefinitely. This Sunday, the final of the Wimbledon tournament will be refereed by a woman, a first. The Croatian Marija Cicak has been appointed by the All England Club to officiate during the duel between Novak Djokovic and Matteo Berrettini.
Cicak, 43, has already refereed the 2014 women’s final between Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard, as well as that of the women’s doubles in 2017. The native of Zagreb has led matches during the last fifteen editions of Wimbledon, but also at the Olympic Games in ‘Athens, London and Rio in 2016, where she judged the ladies final.
Wimbledon is the last of four Grand Slam tournaments to nominate a woman to be the chair umpire of the men’s final.
French pioneer Sandra de Jenken
At the US Open, Greece’s Eva Asderaki-Moore made history in 2015 when she refereed the final won by Novak Djokovic against Roger Federer, and France’s Sandra de Jenken led the way in 2007 in the finals of the l ‘Australian Open and Roland-Garros. The final of the last edition of Roland-Garros was refereed in June 2021 by the French Aurélie Tourte.
In the women’s tournament, the Briton James Keothavong was nominated for the final on Saturday won by Ashleigh Barty against Karolina Pliskova.
