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“I’m not sure if people can understand how nerve-racking it is when you’re having your days (on your period),” says Poland’s grand-slam semi-finalist and world No 23 Magda Linette. “I don’t think many people can understand how stressful that can be.”
Being on your period can be harrowing enough for many of us, let alone with the extra anxieties for those who participate in elite-level sport while wearing light-coloured sportswear in front of TV audiences in the millions. But now one of the world’s most storied sporting institutions is breaking from tradition, with a subtle but landmark change at this year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament.
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For the first time, the rules of the 2023 competition allow female players’ underwear to be a colour other than white as part of a change voted in last November to help ease period anxiety for those taking part. This change applies for the girls’ singles junior event, too.
The rules are still clear — “solid, mid/dark-coloured undershorts, provided they are no longer than their shorts or skirt” are permitted — but it is a notable change to the club’s all-white rule which previously applied to all clothing, including underwear.
Anne Keothavong, a former British No 1 now on the board of the All England Club, which hosts Wimbledon, calls it a “a welcome change in terms of rules” with the decision having been approved unanimously by the board after dialogue with players.
It’s a significant step, and one that has been welcomed by the locker room.
The Athletic has spoken to multiple players who revealed how anxiety-provoking it can be having to wear all-white underwear when on their period. Some said they even went as far as coming up with signals with their support teams in the crowd to indicate if they were “showing” — ie, if any patches of menstrual blood were on display through their clothes.
All agreed that tennis players have enough to worry about without these additional stresses.
Why has the change happened now?
Wimbledon’s all-white-clothing rule dates back to the late 19th century, when it is thought to have been introduced for modesty as white was less likely to show sweat patches. But its continuation into modern times is as much about preserving the traditions of the 146-year-old Grand Slam tournament as anything else.
Among other traditions are the defending men’s singles champion opening the tournament with the first match played on Centre Court, as well as rituals including ‘The Queue’ for fans, which sees would-be spectators join an hours-long system waiting in line to pick up cheap tickets for the following day’s play.
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Over the years, some players have challenged Wimbledon rules which dictated outer clothing, underwear — prior to this change for women — shoes, and accessories such as caps, socks, sweatbands and even rackets had to be predominantly white. From 1988 to 1990, Andre Agassi refused to compete at Wimbledon in protest at the rules, although he later complied and won the 1992 men’s singles title, while 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer was spoken to after wearing trainers with orange soles in 2013.
Venus Williams was forced to change her sports bra mid-match in 2017 as pink straps were showing under her white top, while French player Tatiana Golovin wore red underwear in 2007 but was allowed to continue to compete as underwear had not been singled out in the uniform policy at that time.
That detail was added in 2014, when Wimbledon further clamped down on the policy, adding new rules stating that off-white or cream clothing would not be permitted, with strips of colour limited to a one-centimetre strip on cuffs, necklines or sleeves of players’ attire.
At last year’s tournament, campaigners called on the All England Club to ‘Address the dress code’ and held up placards outside the site’s main gates demanding change to allow players the choice of wearing coloured underwear. The campaigners’ slogans included the phrases, ‘About bloody time’ and ‘Wanted: Ball in our court’ as the protesters wore white skirts with red undershorts, echoing Golovin’s 2007 outfit.
British player Alicia Barnett discussed the stresses of wearing all white in July last year saying, “being on your period on the tour is hard enough, but to wear whites as well isn’t easy.” Discussions between players and tournament organisers were a key factor in the change.
“We have always been committed to supporting the players and listening to their feedback as to how they can perform at their best,” said Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Club. “We believe this rule adjustment will help players do just that by relieving a source of anxiety and allowing them to focus purely on their performance.”
How do players feel about it?
The feedback from female players has been overwhelmingly positive after years of concern about the associated problems of being on their period while competing, particularly at Wimbledon. Although the traditions of the tournament, including the all-white rule, are among the qualities that set it apart as one of sport’s premier events and are why it remains so popular with players, the shift in legislation is a “welcome change”, according to Keothavong.
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Among the actions female players felt they had to take while competing on their period were asking friends to check how see-through their underwear was before playing or to ask for a signal from their support team watching from the stands in case they leaked and blood was visible on their underwear or kit during a match.
“I’m extremely happy,” Linette, who serves on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) player council, tells The Athletic. “I have had a couple of situations at Wimbledon where I felt very uncomfortable. So I think it’s so important. Just for us to be comfortable and avoid any unnecessary things that could lead to media (coverage) and then that stays with you forever. I don’t think anybody can understand how stressful that can be.
“You want to focus on tennis and you’re already fighting with how bad you’re feeling, because often you feel so awful (on your period). Imagine if something happens, then it would be everywhere on social media and that stays. So I don’t think any of us want to worry about it. We just want to focus on tennis. It’s already stressful enough. I’m really happy that this is happening because there was a suggestion and I’m really pleased they listened.”
“I had a situation one year when I got my period at Wimbledon and I had to go change every set break. It’s not ideal,” says world No 27 Bernarda Pera, from the United States. “It’s a little stressful because you keep thinking it’s going to show. So it (the rule change) is a very important thing.”
Pera is one of those to have developed a code with her support team in the crowd to identify any leaks onto her all-white kit, which should be less of a concern under the new rule. Other players identified one case where a fellow competitor was unable to leave the court at one of the four annual Grand Slam events due to “a very extreme situation” while on her period, which they believed had gone some way to prompting the change at Wimbledon.
“Every year, for months in advance, you’d be tracking your period,” says the now-retired Keothavong, of the concerns she faced when playing at Wimbledon. “And fortunately, I was fairly regular. I know there are lots of athletes out there who don’t have regular periods. So you’re just always a little bit on edge, regardless of an all-white clothing rule.
“But I remember taking the (birth control) pill and trying to manipulate it, so that wouldn’t be the week where I would get my period, for instance. But it made me feel rubbish. So it was not something that I found particularly helpful. I may not have got a period but physically I didn’t feel great either. I’m sure it affects your body in other ways by messing around doing those things.
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“Some people might feel uncomfortable reading about it but it would be commonplace to be in the changing rooms and I’d be like (to another player), ‘OK, can you see anything?’. Even if you did have a tampon (as opposed to a sanitary pad), not every manufacturer does quality, or great quality, white shorts. So some players can be wearing something more see-through than they would like.
“But there’s always a paranoia of can you see the string, or can you see anything? And I do remember we’d all kind of help each other out by asking one of your mates who might be around.”
Is Wimbledon the first sporting event to make this rule change?
Far from it.
Kit manufacturers and clubs across a range of sports where female players wear white shorts have made changes to make them feel less worried when they are competing on their periods. In the National Women’s Soccer League, the top division in the U.S. club game, Orlando Pride amended their away strip ahead of the current 2023 season to swap the white shorts for black ones after listening to feedback from the players regarding period anxiety.
Likewise, Manchester City of the Women’s Super League are among a number of clubs in the English game to have replaced their white shorts — worn previously as they are part of the strips for their respective men’s teams — with darker-coloured versions that are still in keeping with the overall design of that kit.
But England’s women’s national team won the European Championship final last summer in an all-white kit, prompting top scorer Beth Mead to say that “it is very nice to have an all-white kit but sometimes it’s not practical when it’s the time of the month. We have discussed it as a team and we have fed that back to (their kit supplier) Nike”.
Now, in their new home kit, issued ahead of the Women’s World Cup starting next month, England have a white shirt and dark blue shorts. Nike has also included a leak-protection liner in the shorts, following athletes’ feedback. Keira Walsh, the England midfielder, said: “For us as women, it is really important we feel comfortable while playing. You don’t want to have to be concerned about your shorts while you are playing, or at half-time. As professional sportswomen, we want to just focus on the match and the tactics.”
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When the U.S. women’s national team won the previous World Cup final in 2019 they also did so in an all-white strip, but have previously worn kits with both dark and light shorts. Their most recent pair of strips, home and away, both feature dark-coloured shorts. And in rugby, the Ireland women’s team announced in March they would be swapping their traditional white shorts to navy for this year’s Women’s Six Nations.
Meanwhile, a cricket club in the English county of Sussex, Lewes Priory, were the first in the UK to swap their all-white kit for a black one in July 2022, in order to make the club more inclusive. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) also announced a new initiative in June this year to support period dignity in recreational-level cricket, which will see the installation of period product dispensers in toilet cubicles at grassroots clubs who have girls’ sections.
Why didn’t this change happen sooner?
Sport as a whole has come a long way when it comes to discussing how periods — which is when women, girls and people who menstruate bleed from their vagina for a few days — affect athletes in a range of different disciplines and events, with more research being conducted each year.
A high number of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injuries, thought to be linked to players being on their period in football, has sparked conversation and prompted research, while campaigns like On The Ball launched in 2018 worked to make period products free and easily accessible at football clubs across the UK for match-going female fans.
Tennis had its own landmark moment when Britain’s Heather Watson unintentionally started a conversation about competing while on her period following the 2015 Australian Open. After being knocked out in the first round, Watson said, “I think it’s just one of these things that I have — girl things.” Since then she, and a host of other top-level players including fellow Brit Laura Robson have spoken out on why more work needs to be done. This Wimbledon rule change is the latest landmark step in their fight to end the stigma around periods.
“Change can take time,” Keothavong says. “This is something, in a tiny, tiny way, I feel like I’ve been part of in my position being on the board at the All England Club and the discussions we had around it and being able to share, whether it’s experience or discussions. I know there were people within the club, running the tournament, who had consultations with players, the WTA and manufacturers as to what they could do to support them and do something proactive.
“So I feel proud of them. It may not seem that big to a lot of people, but for any change to happen when you’ve already got such a successful event and brand, to change something and move with the times is still pretty significant.”
(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)