The Wimbledon Championships are the oldest and most prestigious of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments. Wimbledon is awash with time-honored traditions and characteristics, such as the habit of calling men’s and women’s competitions “gents” and “ladies”, respectively. But why do all athletes have to wear white?
Despite having many other centuries-old protocols, such as the fact that the Royal Box has been reserved for members of the English nobility since 1922, the demand for clothing is also striking. Arguably the most notable aspect of the event is the all-white dress code for all tennis players. But why does the tournament specify that its players wear “predominantly white” or “almost all white”?
Dress code
The short answer is because it’s in the championship dress code. And there is a reason for it. You have to go back to 1880, when the code was written in a fancy decade. The sweat stains they were considered so inappropriate and unsightly that it was decided that white should be worn to minimize their visibility, as sweat is more evident on colorful clothing.
But there are also class connotations in the use of white clothing. By the time this code was put in place, white was a color that got dirty very easily and was not practical for workers. Thus, the wealthy class who could afford to play tennis in the summer months stood out.
From that period on, white garments were considered the standard attire for wealthy tennis players, describing everyone who played in the early Wimbledon tournaments. Once that rule was prescribed in the dress code, tradition-loving Wimbledon was reluctant to remove it.
Cases of rebellious tennis players
Although it has been a part of Wimbledon for over a century, the all-white dress code has not always been popular with tennis players. The most extreme case of this was when superstar Andrew Agassi he refused to play at Wimbledon from 1988 to 1990 in part because the dress code prevented him from wearing the flashy clothing that was most comfortable for him (and which was much of his personal brand at the time).
Even one of the people widely considered to be the greatest male tennis player of all time, Roger FedererIt was not above the dress code. In 2013 he was reprimanded for wearing white sneakers with orange soles and was forced to replace them in the next game.
The following year, the also tennis legend Martina Navratilova she said the tournament organizers had “gone too far” when they told her her blue-striped skirt was not up to code.
When criticism from some of the greatest players of all time isn’t enough for Wimbledon to loosen its dress code, it’s very likely that we’ll continue to see Wimbledon participants dressed in white for a long time to come.