Photo: Larry Marano/REX/Shutterstock
Alize Cornet may have beenpublicly reprimanded for briefly exposing her sports bra during the U.S. Openon Tuesday, but she was much less angry about the incident than fans were.
During her match against Johanna Larsson in Queens, New York, on Tuesday, Cornet left the court for a 10-minute extreme heat break and changed her attire in a locker room. When she returned, she realized that she had put her shirt on backwards.
“This is not okay,” the umpire said, with Cornet visibly reacting in confusion.
The incident almost immediately caused an uproar, with critics calling the United States Tennis Association, which runs the U.S. Open, sexist because male players often take their shirts off on the court. Soon after, the USTA apologized in a statement and explained that the violation should never have happened because Cornet did not actually break any rules.
“When I woke up this morning, I didn’t think this code violation would become so famous in less than 24 hours,” Cornet said to the press. “I’m very surprised about it actually, to be honest, because on the court it seemed like a mistake from the umpire and nothing else.”
Cornet also shared that she received an outpouring of support from fellow female players. “It was pretty crazy,” she recalled. “When I came in this morning in the locker room, many players came to me… and they were giving me all their support… all the players were… telling me if I get fined we will all be together and… make a revolution… I was like, calm down, I’m going to get the information first and then we make a revolution… It was kind of a family. It feels nice.”
But overall, Cornet was optimistic about improvements for women in tennis, saying, “Of course it can be better in the equity between men and women, but I think we’re on the right path. I really do.”
Splash News Online
source: people.com
