Wimbledon umpires are ending the use of courtesy titles "Miss" and "Mrs" for female players at this year's tournament.

Women will no longer be identified by their marital status during match scoring in a change to tradition at the All England Club.

Umpires will not use the titles when announcing an end of game score or end of match score.

Match officials will simply say "game" or "game, set, match", followed by a player's surname.

British player Heather Watson, who won her first match on Monday, said "equality is always good" but added that she had not noticed the change on court.

According to the All England Club, the change has been made to "achieve consistency" for men and women at Wimbledon.

Previously when a married female player such Serena Williams won a game, an umpire would announce: "Game, Mrs Williams", whereas for male players like Roger Federer it was "Game, Federer".

The Wimbledon compendium, published ahead of the start of the tournament, includes a "reference list" of women's champions' marriages and their "resultant name changes".

Alexandra Willis, head of communications, content and digital for the All England Club, told the New York Times it had to "move with the times".

She said: "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."

The All England Club confirmed the courtside changes would not be reflected on the champions' scoreboards in Wimbledon's clubhouse.

The men's singles winners are listed with their first initial and surname, and the women are listed with a "Miss" or "Mrs".

Prefixes are already not used for pre-match announcements during warm-ups or before a first point.

For men and women, titles will be used for code violations, medical announcements and player challenges, which the All England Club said was aligned with the sport's tours.

A spokeswoman for the International Tennis Federation said: "There is nothing specific in the Grand Slam rulebook about how to address female players - it is a decision for each individual Grand Slam.

"As far as I am aware, only Wimbledon previously prefixed a female player's surname and they are now in line with the other Slams."

The change in protocol reflects gradual moves towards equal treatment for male and female players at Wimbledon.

Men's and women's singles champions only started receiving the same prize money from 2007.