“You feel the eyes of the world watching you,” Matteo Berrettini said just days ago while unveiling his Wimbledon outfit, complete with a beige Hugo Boss jacket. But when it came time to step onto the All England Club grounds, the Italian had to abandon that look because of one of the tournament’s long-standing dress code rules.

Notably, per the Wimbledon’s strict policy against non-white outfits, the players are only allowed to wear a tennis attire that is almost entirely white as they enter the court. Even off white and cream-colored outfits are also rejected by the Grand Slam. Berrettini’s custom outfit fell in the same category and thus, he was barred from wearing it.

“Yeah, there was an option, but it got refused by Wimbledon because it wasn’t white enough,” he said during a press conference. “There was like a little bit of white and then on the collar it was a little bit brownish. I don’t know I’ve seen it once. So, there was an option, but they didn’t let me do it and it’s okay.”

After his custom attire got rejected, Berrettini had to resort to a traditional all-white tennis outfit for his SW19 campaign. Having been the brand ambassador of Hugo Boss since 2022, this is the first time that one of his custom outfits has gotten rejected.

This is because unlike Wimbledon, none of the other tournaments on the calendar have a rule against on-court attires and players are free to wear colorful or uniquely styled outfits.

Wearing all-white outfits has been a tradition at Wimbledon for decades now. Wimbledon formalized the all-white rule in 1963 and tightened it in 2014, requiring almost entirely white attire.

Interestingly, the policy has only gotten stricter as the years passed by. Up until the 1980s, the players were allowed to wear colored stripes or blocking, but it is no longer allowed. The rule also extends to accessories like caps, headbands, shoes, socks and more. Only a single colored trim is permitted, but that too shouldn’t be wider than one centimeter.

Along similar lines, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro also found herself on the receiving end of a warning during her first-round match against Anastasia Potapova. The Spaniard came close to breaching Wimbledon’s all-white dress code when a black undershirt became briefly visible near her lower back late in the match. The chair umpire subsequently issued a warning, reminding her to ensure it didn’t happen again.

However, there have been multiple players who have broken the all-white dress code at SW19. Most famously, Roger Federer had sparked massive attention after wearing orange-soled shoes in the 2013 edition of the tournament. Luckily for him, the infringement was minor and no action was taken against it.

With Wimbledon being a tournament that is known for being extremely resistant to changes and respecting age-old traditions, it was expected that no changes would be made to the dress code rule. But they had made one important amendment to the rule for women participants four years ago.

Wimbledon allowed women to wear colored undershorts in 2022

The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTC) had decided to relax the all-white dress code for women in 2022. They had allowed them to wear “solid, mid/dark-colored undershorts” provided that they are not longer than their shorts or skirts.

“It is our hope that this rule adjustment will help players focus purely on their performance by relieving a potential source of anxiety,” Sally Bolton, the CEO of the AELTC had said about the rule change.

The amendment was made in order to alleviate the stress that women faced while competing in the tournament during menstruation. The white undershorts had caused discomfort to multiple players over the years, and this was a major reason behind the rule change.

The relaxation of the dress code has been widely welcomed by players. Several WTA players have embraced the change, with Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina among those opting to wear dark undershorts beneath their otherwise all-white outfits.