Jayden Collins
Tennis star Bianca Andreescu has been forced to apologise after spraying her sponsor Nike for their design of an outfit she sported diring the first round of the US Open.
The Canadian stormed through to the second round with a victory over Harmony Tan, however, only caught momentum after requesting an outfit change.
Andreescu had arrived at the match-up wearing a navy blue Nike dress but was seen struggling with the heavy wind blowing her outfit and subsequently messing with her forehand shots.
She approached the chair umpire to ask to change her outfit, while pleading with him to not dock her a bathroom break, to which he agreed.
Andreescu said: “It’s not my fault, it’s Nike’s fault. This dress is so bad.
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“I need to go, this is bad.”
The former world number four returned to the court wearing shorts and a white top before going on to soundly defeat her opponent.
Andreescu explained her reasoning behind the outfit change following the victory.
She said: “It was just bothering me on some forehands. I just felt like it was kind of coming up a bit. Obviously, the wind didn't help.”
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The 22-year-old added that the umpire ‘was very nice to say it was totally okay’.
As for her comments toward Nike, she made sure to back peddle and attempt to get back in the good books of her sponsors.
She continued: "But I meant no disrespect with what I said to the umpire. I was trying to convince him to not take away that washroom break, because I know we only get two. He was very nice to say it was totally okay.
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“I could have definitely used a different choice of wording. So I apologise to anyone I disrespected. I love Nike and I hope I can be with them for the rest of my life."
It wasn’t the only tennis drama to unfold of the day.
Social media was sent into a frenzy after 16-year-old Sara Bejlek’s celebrations with her father looked a bit off.
After shaking hands with her opponent and the chair umpire, the world No.194 was seen on Amazon Prime's live TV broadcast immediately making her way over to a man in the crowd.
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That man, who has now been identified as Bejlek's father, was clearly ecstatic with the result and gave his daughter a big hug.
But during their embrace, the dad appeared to give Bejlek a pat on the backside multiple times before kissing her on the mouth.
Some viewers labelled the celebration ‘inappropriate’ and ‘creepy’.