Jelena Ostapenko took the unusual step of lifting her skirt to show her undershorts to the umpire at Wimbledon.
The umpire appeared to be raising questions about the colour of Ostapenko’s undershorts before she played a doubles match alongside Hsieh Su-wei.
When she was approached, the 28-year-old angrily threw up her skirt to reveal green undershorts.
Wimbledon only relaxed their strict dress code rules in 2023 to allow female players to wear dark undershorts.
It followed a campaign from the likes of Billie Jean King and Judy Murray who argued women should be allowed to wear dark coloured undershorts as some players were anxious about having their periods.
Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Club, said in 2023: “We are committed to supporting the players and listening to their feedback as to how they can perform at their best.
“From next year, women and girls competing at The Championships will have the option of wearing coloured under shorts if they choose.
“It is our hope that this rule adjustment will help players focus purely on their performance by relieving a potential source of anxiety.”
Multiple Wimbledon winner King said: “My generation, we always worried because we wore all-white all the time. And it’s what you wear underneath that’s important for your menstrual period. And we’re always checking whether we’re showing.
“You get tense about it because the first thing we are is entertainers, and you want whatever you wear to look immaculate, look great. We’re entertainers. We’re bringing it to the people.
“You feel like you can breathe and not have to check on everything every minute when you sit down and change sides.
“So at least it’s been brought to the forefront, which I think is important to have discussion.”
The Wimbledon rules state that undershorts for female players must be solid, mid/dark coloured.
The rules read: “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.”
The 2017 French Open appeared frustrated that she was being questioned by the umpire, and it was unsure what his issue was.
Ostapenko and Hsieh won their second round doubles match to book a place in the round of 16 against against Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai.
In the singles draw, Ostapenko was beaten by Brit Sonay Kartal in the first round.
