A French tennis player was slapped with a violation at the US Open on Tuesday for taking off her shirt to readjust it while on the court.
The tournament, held in Queens, New York, has been plagued by an unrelenting heat wave with temperatures soaring upward of 96 degrees Tuesday, with a heat index making it feel like over 100 degrees at times.
The players were given a 10-minute break to cool off and rehydrate, during which Alizé Cornet put on a fresh shirt. When she returned to the court, she realized her shirt was on backward. She quickly took off the shirt and put it back on, prompting umpire Christian Rask to hit her with a code violation.
Women’s Tennis Association rules dictate that players may only remove shirts while off-court. No such rules apply to male players, who took their shirts off frequently Tuesday, to deal with the blistering heat.
