"Imagine telling a woman what color knickers she can wear" - Fans furious over Jelena Ostapenko's 'ugly' treatment at Wimbledon

Fans were furious as Jelena Ostapenko was checked ahead of her doubles match at Wimbledon for her bright green shorts that stretched the 'all-white' dress code of Wimbledon. This led to the match facing a slight hiccup, but was later resumed as the Latvian and her partner, Hsieh Su-wei, went on to clinch a straight-set victory against the pair consisting of Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse.

Wimbledon has created a brand of itself by following a very thorough dressing rule for the players. The official rules state that a player 'must be dressed in suitable tennis attire that is almost entirely white' throughout their time on the court. However, the footnote states that an exception is allowed for the female competitors who are 'allowed to wear solid, mid/dark-coloured undershorts, provided they are no longer than their shorts or skirt.'

Ostapenko, whose kit is sponsored by famed sportswear brand Adidas, introduced green shorts to pair with the all-white outfit. This was seemingly pushing the boundaries, as allegedly, only white or black shorts are allowed, irrespective of the rules not mentioning the same.

Fans were taken aback by such a spectacle and called out the Wimbledon organizers for overdoing the dress code regulations.

"Imagine telling a woman what colour knickers/ shorts she can wear under her skirt...Move the hell forward Wimbledon…we all love the white but the underwear is none of your business…" wrote a fan.

"The ugly side of Wimbledon. Checking player's underwears," posted one.

"Are they still policing panties?" enquired a fan.

"This doesn't make sense, I get the dress code but she's not the first Adidas athlete to play with green underpants this year, Xu had them in the first round and I didn't see complaints," added another.

"This tournament has to get a grip and stop policing women’s underwears it’s weird abeg," stated one.

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Wimbledon decides to relax dress code to pay tribute to late Diogo Jota

Francisco Cabral wearing a black ribbon - Image Source: Getty

An unfortunate car accident took away the life of Liverpool star Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, on June 3, which led Wimbledon to relax their all-white dress code. To honor his compatriot, tennis player Francisco Cabral wore a black ribbon to his doubles match.

The All England Club announced that players who wished to do the same were allowed to as the club had relaxed its dress code to pay tribute to Jota. However, this was not the first time that the 148-year-long tradition was relaxed.

A similar relaxation was given to Elina Svitolina last year, to show her solidarity towards fellow Ukrainians killed during the Russian bombing of a children’s hospital in Kyiv. She, too, wore a black ribbon to honor the victims during her fourth-round match against Wang Xinyu.