Female tennis players at Wimbledon will no longer be referred to by “Miss” or “Mrs” as the All England Lawn Tennis Club says it has to "move with the times".

Ending a long held tradition, umpires will no longer use the single or marital prefix when they declare that a woman has won a game, set or match to “achieve consistency” between the sexes, the Club said on Monday.

The issue was brought into the spotlight last year after Serena Williams married Alexis Ohanian, an American Internet entrepreneur, several months before the Championships.

Despite not taking her husband’s name, the umpire declared, "Game, set and match, Mrs. Williams" when she won after years of the prefix “Miss”.

The new rule brings the coverage in line with the men’s game, which has traditionally only used their surname - such as "Game, Federer" - to declare that they have won a match.

“We’ve got to move with the times,” said Alexandra Willis, head of communications, content and digital for the All England Club. “Hopefully we surprise people with the way we do that.

“Some of the traditions — white clothing, playing on grass — they are our greatest strengths and the things that we do. Others absolutely have to move with the times. You have to respect the wishes of the players. I suppose the challenge for us is: how much you rewrite history?”