Venus Williams accuses Wimbledon chiefs of being sexist after being put on Court 18 for second-round match

VENUS WILLIAMS has sensationally accused Wimbledon chiefs of being sexist after being shunted out on to Court 18.

The five-time SW19 champion, 36, beat Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari 7-5 4-6 6-3 on one of the All England Club’s smallest show courts.

Record nine-time Wimbledon winner Martina Navratilova tweeted that Williams’ treatment “stinks”.

And asked if a multi-time men’s champ would be forced to play on a similar court, No8 seed Venus replied: “I haven’t seen that in the scheduling yet.

“I’m willing to play anywhere, any time. If all players have to play outside, all players should have to play outside.

“But there shouldn’t be exceptions or any inequality to it.

“It’s not the ideal schedule for the women. We’d like to see equal amount of matches.

“We don’t want more, just the same amount, that’s all.

“I just want equality for men’s and women’s matches. That’s what I’m unhappy about.

“I’m sure that the WTA supervisors have done their best to try to make the schedule equal.

“But also the All England Club has to have a culture where they want to have equality, as well. They need to want to pursue that.”

Williams had a second match on Thursday – this time on Court 3 – as she won in the women’s doubles with her sister Serena, beating Andreja Klepac and Katarina Srebotnik 7-5 6-3.