Top female stars were once forced to go braless at Wimbledon due to their strict dress code.
A handful of players in the women's draw, who will be allowed to wear dark coloured undershorts for the first time in 2023, had to ditch their bras thanks to SW19 regulations stating that male and female athletes must adhere to the competition's strict all-white dress code.
This rule applies to all clothing such as undergarments including bras, with a statement confirming so on the Wimbledon website.
It 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)."
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Nine years later, Daria Kasatkina was among the players to express delight at the alteration to the traditional dress code - which has taken any 'additional stress' away.
Australian star Nick Kyrgios, who pulled out of the 2023 tournament on Sunday night through injury, hit the headlines last year for wearing red trainers on Centre Court. But the old-fashioned dress code has never come under more scrutiny than in 2014.
"Some of the girls have been told to go back and change their bras and tops because they had slight colour on them," BBC pundit and 1987 Wimbledon winner Pat Cash told BBC Radio 5 Live at the time.
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"I believe some of the girls didn’t have suitable sports bras and had to go without them. It has absolutely gone ridiculous."
The bizarre ruling was believed to have affected a number of players, including British star Naomi Broady, who appeared without a bra on during her second round match against Caroline Wozniacki.
However, it was not clear whether this was because her undergarments did not meet the rules. Earlier that week, Venus Williams led a rebellion by threatening to wear animal print beneath her tennis whites.
During the same tournament, Williams also claimed she approved of the dress code, saying: "It’s a nice change. Everyone just kind of glows in white. Obviously not all year, because anything every day is boring. But during these two weeks, it’s nice."
Wimbledon's rules stated that: "Competitors must be dressed in suitable tennis attire that is almost entirely white and this applies from the point at which the player enters the court surround."
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