Female US Open star’s warning for removing her shirt on court sparked sexism storm

Female US Open star’s warning for removing her shirt on court sparked sexism storm

Alize Cornet ended up in the middle of a sexism row after she was penalised for removing her shirt during a tense US Open match

The French tennis star was hit with an unsportsmanlike penalty for this incident

Alize Cornet sparked an unintentional sexism row after being punished for removing her shirt at the 2018 US Open.

During a heat break, introduced for player welfare reasons, the then-28-year-old left the court to change. She returned with her shirt on the wrong way round and had to remove the top – a decision that umpire Christian Rask wasn’t happy with.

The tennis official hit Cornet with an unsportsmanlike penalty immediately, which unleashed a frenzy of backlash online. After a straight three-set defeat to Johanna Larsson, Cornet awoke the morning after to a staggering amount of support in her corner from many public figures.

Former tennis star Annabel Croft said: “Utterly ridiculous!!! Not offensive in any way and where’s common sense in that decision?” Judy Murray, former captain of Great Britain’s female Fed Cup team, also chimed in: “Alize Cornet came back to court after 10 minute heat break.

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“Had her fresh shirt on back to front. Changed at back of court. Got a code violation. Unsportsmanlike conduct… but the men can change shirts on court.”

The United States Tennis Association (UTSA) were forced to speak on the topic, condemning Rask’s decision and also clarifying the rules that came along with removing clothing on the court. The statement read: “Players who do change their shirts will not be assessed a code violation. We regret that Ms. Cornet was assessed a code violation. However, luckily, she was assessed a warning only and there was no further penalty above a warning.”

The organisation then noted that all players are allowed to change their upper garments on open court, but only “when sitting in the player chair”. As a result of this backlash and subsequent statement, Cornet avoided any further punishment, including a fine.

Cornet was at the centre of a sexism row back in 2018

The UTSA aded: “When possible, if a more private location is near a court and is requested, that player will be allowed to go to that private location to change, and they will not be assessed a bathroom break. We follow WTA procedures regarding bathroom breaks. A quick change of attire will not considered one of their two bathroom breaks.”

Once the situation calmed down, Cornet confessed that she was “surprised” by the penalty and the attention it received. She said: “I was surprised when I just changed T-shirt really quick and he gave me the code violation, I didn’t expect it, and I told him it was pretty weird. I think it’s very fair from them to apologise to me. I really appreciate it.”

Cornet added: “The women are treated a little bit differently, (but) I think it gets much better, especially in the tennis. I want to be clear about it and I didn’t take it that bad. I was just maybe disturbed for 10 seconds and that was it.”

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