A female tennis player has copped a dress code violation for taking her shirt off on court during the US Open.
Due to the sweltering conditions at the tournament this year – tops of 38 degrees Celsius – players are offered a longer than usual 10-minute break as a reprieve from the heat.
In a match against Swedish Johanna Larson, French tennis player Aliza Cornet used the break to change into a new shirt.
After returning to the court and realising it was on backwards, Cornet pulled it off and promptly put it on the right way.
The chair umpire, Christian Rask, then gave her a code violation.
A clearly perplexed Cornet challenged Rask on his decision, asking why she was getting a violation. Rask clarified that it was because she was not allowed to take her shirt off on court.
The code violation was technically a warning, so she didn't lose any points, but the 28-year-old was obviously confused by the decision – shaking her head and smirking in a "can you believe this?" way.
Many have been quick to call attention to the fact that male tennis players are often seen with their shirt off while on the court. As pointed out by The Spun, in a recent match Novak Djokovic spent several minutes bare-chested before putting a shirt back on.
Not only that: the Women's Tennis Association handbook states that a player can change clothes during the end of a set. Cornet was yet to begin her next set, so she was technically still at the end of a set.
As Laura Wagner wrote for Deadspin, "This was a judgment call on the part of the chair umpire, who could clearly see what the issue was, and he inexplicably chose punitive action."
Technicality and rules aside, one thing is clear: it would have been less likely for Cornet to cop this violation if she had been a male.
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