We are experiencing the first Wimbledon with Jannik Sinner at number 1 in the ATP ranking. In the Slam circuit it is the most prestigious tournament, it is the one that every tennis player dreams of winning at least once in their life. Wimbledon is not just competition, it is a secular liturgy that has its symbol in the color white. A color that also stands out outside of grass courts. The historic club house requires this. And it tries to impose it even away from the stage. It remains a very strict rule on the court and those who, in the past, have tried to break it have been immediately called back to total white.
Total white has been a rule since 1877
From the first edition of the tournament, which dates back to 1877, white was all the rage because only aristocrats and rich people took to the field who wore white in their daily lives as they were the only ones who could afford to wash their clothes. It became a written rule, also marked in the decalogue on the official website, in 1963, when white became the exclusive color of the Slam. At the beginning the formula was “predominantly white”, then, in 1995, it changed to “almost all white” and, finally, in 2014, exactly ten years ago, the order of the English Grand Slam penalty took another step: shoe soles, bras, bands and cuffs must also be white. To the point that even the sponsors had to adapt.
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Wimbledon 2023, i look più belli, da Kate Middleton ad Andrew Garfield
repeals it
In addition to the noble element, there are some more pragmatic or practical ones: sweat stains on colored clothes are more obvious and disturbing and white makes the sun more bearable. When there is any, since Wimbledon is famous for its capricious weather. An exception was recently granted but only for tennis players: they are allowed to wear darker underwear to avoid the embarrassment of menstrual blood stains appearing during matches. And there are those who hope that this is the beginning of a revolution that will bring a rainbow of shades to Wimbledon!
