Picture of Elena Rybakina at Wimbledon reveals historic moment

Elena Rybakina was seen wearing black underwear on Centre Court at Wimbledon on Tuesday. It marks a historic moment for women in the sport.

With the arrival of the Princess of Wales and Roger Federer at Centre Court on Tuesday it would have been easy to miss a small detail with historic ramifications.

As play got underway between Elena Rybakina and her American opponent Shelby Rogers it became obvious that both women were taking advantage of Wimbledon’s new relaxed dress code by wearing dark undershorts.

This is the first year the All England Club, which runs Wimbledon, has allowed women to wear darker undershorts to banish period fears.

The tournament has previously had an extremely strict all-white dress code which was enforced with an iron fist.

Both Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and Shelby Rogers of the United States elected to wear dark shorts at Wimbledon on Tuesday. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Even Roger Federer was pulled up for wearing white shoes with orange soles in 2013.

The rule was first imposed in the 1800s to minimise sweat stains but women have objected to it in recent years because of the threat of period stains during long matches.

Speaking about the decision to wear dark shorts Rybakina said: “I think it’s good to have an option, but at the same time I was also fine with all white.

“I think changes are good, and we still have the same tradition to be in full white. It’s just maybe a little adjustment. Overall I think it’s good yeah.”

British player Heather Watson said the new rule was “forward thinking” but did present a new problem.

The match was watched by the Princess of Wales, Roger Federer and his wife Mirka. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

“When they announced the new rule, I thought this is great,” Ms Watson said.

“This is forward thinking, this is so helpful.

“And then I thought, shoot, everyone’s going to know when I’m on my period – but I’m so open about it anyway, I’d probably let all of you know without even asking the question!

“I guess consistency is key then, so you’ve got to stick with the black all the time or something. But broadly obviously [it’s] positive, absolutely. You didn’t ask, but in Eastbourne I wore black shorts, so it really helped.”