Wimbledon dress code forced female stars to return to locker room and change bras - The Mirror US

Jul 02, 2025

Wimbledon faced heat when ex-champ and commentator Pat Cash criticized the historic tournament for making female players ditch their bras.

The prestigious English event is globally celebrated and rich with tradition, yet its long-standing mandate for competitors to wear all-white clothing has drawn criticism from both commentators and athletes.

In a move towards modernity, the esteemed championships relaxed its strict all-white outfit policy in 2022, permitting women to sport dark-coloured undershorts.

The Wimbledon dress requirement dates back to the 1880s, initially instituted to obscure the appearance of sweat marks, deemed unseemly at the time. This policy extends to underwear, and in 2014, controversy ensued as female players were allegedly asked to remove their bras for color violations.

According to Wimbledon's attire rules, any undergarments on display ought to be completely white, save for a thin band of color no more than one centimetre wide. Come 2022, these sartorial regulations softened a bit, allowing female athletes the option to wear opaque, darker-toned undershorts, provided they don't exceed the length of their shorts or skirt.

Yet, rewind eleven years and this regulation was applied rather strictly, leading to what was tagged a 'ridiculous' situation where players were supposedly instructed to get rid of bras that didn't align with the code.

At Wimbledon, Britain's Naomi Broady seemed to have ditched a bra for her face-off with Caroline Wozniacki in round two, though it remained hazy whether this was at the request of officials. This odd enforcement was debated on BBC Radio 5 Live, and Australian icon Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champ, didn't hold back in his critique of the strict dress code.

"Some of the girls have been told to go back and change their bras and tops because they had slight color on them," vented Cash. "I believe some of the girls didn't have suitable sports bras and had to go without them. It has absolutely gone ridiculous."

The men weren't spared from these stringent rules either, as Cash continued: "One of the players was called into the referees' office because he had blue underwear that showed through when he got sweaty, so he was told not to wear dark underwear."

A similar controversy popped up in 2017 when American legend Venus Williams seemingly switched out her vivid pink bra mid-match during a rain interruption, yet she kept mum on the topic after the match.

Wimbledon's governance decided to revise the policy three years prior ago to the backlash, which included not just gripes from competitors and commentators but protests by a group known as Address The Dress Code.

This advocacy group pushed for a change in the stringent dress code due to worries about female athletes dealing with menstruation, prompting a swift relaxation of the restrictions.

Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, discussed the shift, pointing out that it was meant to alleviate "a potential source of anxiety.

"We are committed to supporting the players and listening to their feedback as to how they can perform at their best," stated Bolton. "It is our hope that this rule adjustment will help players focus purely on their performance."