Wimbledon star was forced to borrow shorts from coach after strict rule break

Anna Kournikova once needed to borrow a pair of shorts from her coach during a Wimbledon practice session after breaching the All England Club's strict dress code. At SW19, all-white is almost always mandatory. An exception was made this year for tributes in the form of black armbands in honour of the late Liverpool forward Diogo Jota, but otherwise players must wear nothing but white on court.

Before the 2002 tournament even began, Russian star Kournikova was told off after walking into her practice session wearing a pair of black shorts. She was world No. 54 at the time and was competing at the British Slam for the last time in her career. She even reached the women's doubles semi-finals that year, before falling to eventual champions Serena and Venus Williams.

But before she was even able to step onto the court, Kournikova was sternly told by tournament chiefs that she needed to change her outfit.

In 1963, rules were enforced for all competitors to dress 'predominantly in white', then 32 years later the wording was changed to 'almost entirely white.' This rule is enforced both during matches and on the practice court.

Kournikova became very aware of these regulations when she rocked up to practice sporting a pair of black shorts.

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Unfortunately, she did not have a pair of white shorts on her person and had to resort to another option. She borrowed a pair from the legendary late coach Nick Bollettieri in order to comply with the rules and stay on court.

Wimbledon regulations are also very specific when it comes to practising before the tournament gets underway. On Centre Court, aside from those ranked in the top 10, players are only allowed 30 minutes each to hit. Many top stars chose to compete with one another to get an hour in total.

Kournikova is not the only player to break the rules, and she did remember to dress in all-white for her first-round match with Tatiana Panova. Though she did lose 6-1 4-6 6-4.

Andre Agassi famously boycotted playing the tournament from 1988 to 1990 due to the tradition and later wrote in his autobiography: "I resent rules, but especially arbitrary rules. Why must I wear white? I don't want to wear white.

"Why should it matter to these people what I wear? Above all, I took offence at being barred and blocked and made to feel unwanted."

Nick Kyrgios walked onto Centre Court in 2022 with a red hat and red shoes on and has recently called for the tournament to ban the all-white attire and allow for more individuality to be displayed at the Grand Slam.