Tennis star lifts up skirt after tense stand-off with Wimbledon official
A leading women’s player exposed what she was wearing underneath her white skirt in another clash over Wimbledon’s dress code.
It wouldn’t be Wimbledon without a wardrobe controversy.
Feisty Latvian star Jelena Ostapenko was the latest to draw the ire of the tournament’s ultra-strict all white dress code while warming up for her doubles match overnight Friday.
While the All England Lawn Tennis Club was happy to make an exception for players wishing to wear a black armband to honour late Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota, one official wasn’t so sure about what Ostapenko was hiding under her skirt.
And it led to a bizarre stand-off.
Wimbledon altered its rules two years ago to allow women’s players to wear black shorts after widespread concerns over players suffering from period anxiety.
It’s unclear whether it was the green colour of Ostapenko’s shorts or something else that prompted the conversation this year, but tennis fans still blew up after the moment was shared on social media.
“Imagine telling a woman what colour knickers/shorts she can wear under her skirt,” one wrote. “Move the hell forward Wimbledon…we all love the white but the underwear is none of your business.”
“That’s ridiculous. The green looks cute and is perfect for this tournament!” wrote another.
“Wimbledon needs to modernise on this,” added another.
“Who is this Umpire? Anna Wintour?” added a fourth.
71-second statement after controversial decision
There were also comical scenes on court two as Ben Shelton needed just 71 seconds to complete his match against Australia’s Rinky Hijikata.
Shelton had failed to persuade the umpire to give him just one more minute to put the finishing touches on a straight sets win in the gathering gloom at Wimbledon on Thursday.
The second-round match was halted at 9.29pm due to fading light. When he returned in the sunshine on Friday, Shelton strode back onto Court Two with one goal, to finish off Hijikata quickly.
Four swishes of the racquet later, including three aces, and the job was done, with 10th seed Shelton wrapping up a 6-2 7-5 6-4 win.
The official match time of two hours and 12 minutes failed to tell the whole story.
“He (the supervisor) said it was a five-minute warning until Hawk-Eye (line-calling technology) was going down,” Shelton said. “That was, like, including the changeover, so there wouldn’t be enough time to complete the game.
“I was telling him, ‘I only need 60 seconds’. That’s kind of what my goal was when I went out there today.”
Despite being on the brink of victory overnight Shelton, 22, admitted that switching off had been nearly impossible.
“When you’re in the middle of a match, you’re thinking about what you did, what you could have done, how you could have been off the court, what you’re going to do when you get back out there,” he said.
“For me it’s what my game plan is going to be for that one service game to make sure that I hold. You can’t really completely switch off.”
Shelton will play Marton Fucsovics in the third round after the Hungarian beat veteran Frenchman Gael Monfils in five sets, in another match held over.
Aussie equals career high, gets $500k payday
Australia’s Jordan Thompson is into the fourth round after a 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-3 win over Italy’s Luciano Darderi.
It’s the furthest Thompson has ever gone at Wimbledon and equals his best career grand slam result. The 30-year-old will earn a cool payday of £240,000 (A$503,560) in prize money for his efforts.
“I’m super happy with the result. I mean, two sets to love up is a bit different from the other day. I’ll take it. Today (my body) was actually a lot better. I don’t know why but I actually felt half-normal today on the court, so that was pleasing,” said Thompson, who is managing a nasty back injury.
“I think results have shown that grass is probably my best surface and (that) hasn’t shown at Wimbledon. So that’s pleasing to get to my best result because I’ve only made (the) fourth round at the US Open. To do it under the circumstances at the moment is incredible.”
Thompson faces a tough task in the fourth round against American Taylor Fritz.
There was some minor drama when Darderi complained to the umpire when Thompson clinched the first set by winning a point with his hat in his hand.
Thompson’s cap fell off but he managed to catch it before it hit the ground and the Italian didn’t call for the point to be stopped immediately, meaning he didn’t really have a case for the umpire to overrule the point.
Alex de Minaur takes on Denmark’s August Holmgren tonight as he looks to join Thompson in the round of 16.
World No. 1 survives scare from Raducanu
Aryna Sabalenka’s dream of a maiden Wimbledon title is alive after he defeated Emma Raducanu 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 in an excellent third round match.
Raducanu served led 4-1 in the second set but Sabalenka rallied to claim a straights sets victory.
Sabalenka will face Elise Mertens in the fourth round.
Alcaraz still searching for top gear
Carlos Alcaraz survived another erratic performance on Friday, battling to a 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-4 win over Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff to stay on track for a third straight Wimbledon crown.
Alcaraz made 28 unforced errors in an inconsistent display on Centre Court but conjured enough moments of magic to eventually subdue the world number 125 and book his place in the last 16.
The world number two had been pushed to the brink in a five-set win over 38-year-old Italian Fabio Fognini in the first round and looked below his best again in a second-round victory over British amateur Oliver Tarvet.
After grinding out his latest underwhelming win, the Spaniard has plenty of room for improvement.
In contrast to Alcaraz’s laboured efforts, world number one Jannik Sinner - his main rival at the All England Club - has dropped just 12 games in his first two matches.
Keys, Osaka crash out
Australian Open champion Madison Keys joined the mass exodus of top seeds at Wimbledon on Friday.
Keys’ 6-3, 6-3 defeat by Germany’s Laura Siegemund means only world number one Aryna Sabalenka is still alive at the All England Club out of the top six women’s seeds.
Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini and Zheng Qinwen had already fallen by the wayside.
US sixth seed Keys had won 13 of her 14 Grand Slam matches this year, but made 31 unforced errors in a lacklustre display on the grass against 37-year-old Siegemund, ranked 104 in the world.
Elsewhere, Naomi Osaka admits she contemplates life without tennis but does not plan to quit just yet despite her latest painful defeat.
Osaka blew a golden opportunity to reach the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time as she was beaten by Russian world number 50 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The 27-year-old took the first set on Court Two, but she lost her way as Pavlyuchenkova battled back to clinch a 3-6 6-4 6-4 victory.
Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam champion but she has not won a major since 2021 and has still never been beyond the third round at the All England Club.
“Right now I’m just really upset. I wanted to better than I did before. I thought I could make a great run here but clearly not,” Osaka said.
Since her triumph at the Australian Open four years ago, she is on a dismal run of 12 successive Grand Slam appearances without reaching the fourth round.
Osaka gave birth to a daughter in July 2023, returning from a 15-month sabbatical for the start of the 2024 season.
Visibly frustrated throughout her post-match press conference after losing on Friday, she was asked if she thought about hanging up her racquet to find happiness elsewhere.
“Yeah. I feel like I’d be kind of crazy to not, but I think right now I have so many things I want to attempt to achieve,” she said.
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“I feel like while I still have the opportunity to try to do it, I want to, even though I get very upset when I lose, but I think that’s my competitive nature. That’s also the younger sister syndrome.
“No person wants to feel this way, like, multiple times throughout the year, but tennis players are crazy.
- with AFP
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