London — Andy Murray labelled a controversial poster of former Wimbledon greats as a "disaster" after the Scot highlighted the lack of prominence given to female stars.
Murray, a two-time Wimbledon champion, was a notable absentee from the official All England Club artwork which features 15 famous players walking down a staircase.
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Emerging male players Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, neither of whom have made an impact at Wimbledon yet, stand in the foreground of the painting.
They are followed by a selection of "epic" rivalries, beginning with Murray's long-time competitors Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Of the six women depicted, only Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova are among the front 11 players, with the other four, including Serena and Venus Williams, at the back.
While Murray's uncle and brother criticised his exclusion, the former world number one insisted that is not the issue as he spoke about the poster for the first time since its release.
"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," he said.
Asked about four of the front five groups of rivals being men, the three-time Grand Slam champion said: "That was what was slightly strange.
"I guess the players that are on the poster are ones that have had incredible careers and have been unbelievably successful at Wimbledon.
"But elsewhere are some of the greatest players of all time.
"For me, 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's like, 'that does look a bit strange'.
"Me not being on it is certainly not a problem."
Murray's final warm-up ahead of Wimbledon ended in a 6-4, 6-4 loss to world number six world number six Holger Rune at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic on Wednesday.
AFP