Wimbledon star forced to 'lift up her skirt' in angry exchange with umpire over potential rule break
A female tennis player was asked to ‘lift up her skirt’ during a second-round doubles match at Wimbledon on Friday.
Wimbledon 2025 is well underway with high-profile tennis stars such as Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, and Jannik Sinner all reaching the men's singles round of 16 without many problems.
Aryna Sabalenka defeated Britain’s Emma Raducanu 7-6, 6-4 in the third round on Friday.
Women's world number two Coco Gauff sustained a shock defeat to Dayana Yastremska in the first round.
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However, on Friday, another star was under the spotlight for a bizarre reason.
Latvian Jelena Ostapenko became embroiled in an awkward moment with the umpire during her doubles match against Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
Preparations for the second-round clash were interrupted when umpire Jamie Crowson approached Ostapenko during her warm-up.
After an exchange of words between the player and umpire, Ostapenko appeared frustrated, throwing her hands up before then lifting her white skirt to show green cycling shorts underneath.
And the Latvian was within the rules, as back in 2023, Wimbledon changed its women’s dress code for the first time in 146 years.
All England Club CEO Sally Bolton said at the time that she hopes the new rule “will help players focus purely on their performance by relieving a potential source of anxiety.”
Several players had previously spoken about managing their periods during the tournament.
Current rules posted on Wimbledon’s official website state that “any undergarments that either are or can be visible during play (including due to perspiration) must also be completely white except for a single trim of colour no wider than one centimetre (10mm), except female players who are allowed to wear solid, mid/dark-coloured undershorts provided they are no longer than their shorts or skirt”.
Plus, “Shoes must be almost entirely white. Soles and laces must be completely white. Large manufacturers’ logos are not encouraged. The grass court shoes must adhere to the Grand Slam rules. In particular shoes with pimples around the outside of the toes shall not be permitted. The foxing around the toes must be smooth”.
Ostapenko returns to action alongside teammate Hsieh Su-wei when they face Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai in the women’s doubles round of 16 on Sunday.
Luke Davies