Wimbledon Centre Court Hosts Hotties

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - There were empty seats in Centre Court for the match between 8th seed Victoria Azarenka and 28th seed Sorana Cirstea at Wimbledon on Friday. But for some who decided to watch the match, they weren't necessarily there to watch tennis.

Wimbledon promoters are reportedly purposely placing matches between attractive women in Centre Court in an effort to boost television ratings. Johnny Perkins, a spokesman for the All England Club where the Wimbledon championship takes place, told the Daily Mail that "good looks are a factor" when determining where the different matches are played.

So while few casual tennis fans have heard of Azarenka or Cirstea, second seed Serena Williams played her match against Italian Roberta Vinci on the No. 2 court.

Another source at the BBC confessed to the Daily Mail , "It's the Wimbledon play committee, not us, who decides on the order of play...But obviously it's advantageous to us if there are good-looking women players on Centre Court...Our preference would be a Brit or a babe as this always delivers high viewing ratings."

Players expressed their disappointment. No. 1 seed Dinara Safina told the Daily Telegraph , "It's not fair -- but then I'm not doing the schedule." French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova added, "It's weird."

The same rule doesn't necessarily apply to men, though. Top seeds Roger Federer and Andy Murray are scheduled to play Centre Court on Friday.

Anna Kornikova is among the most popular female tennis players who was known more for her looks than her tennis skills.