Billie Jean King’s ‘pet peeve’ is Wimbledon’s ‘horrible’ all white uniform policy
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She’s not fussed about the fact that Wimbledon wears all white.
The ‘pet peeve’ of champion Billie Jean King – “What a terrible uniform,” she said in an interview with The Independent – is one of the many things she finds so irritating about it.
The former tennis player and coach says the policy of the men’s singles quarter-final at Wimbledon this week was a “horrible idea” and would be better if it were open to all black and Asian women, as is the case for the women’s final.
King has taken the unusual step of saying so. It was the first time an athlete had publicly defended the tournament’s uniform policy. And her words are far from being the first time an African American athlete has defended an international sporting event she believes is racist.
‘I would never want the white man to wear my uniform’
King recently made headlines after saying that she finds the Wimbledon men’s singles final “disgusting”.
She told the Independent: “When men were out there wearing their uniforms and the way the white dress code is set, [the white men] thought they were above us.
“And I would never want the white man to wear my uniform. I prefer it if we wear our dress code in class, all the time.”
King is not alone in believing the Wimbledon men’s singles final this week was a poor way to go about things. One male tennis player, who asked not to be named, told the Independent: “I didn’t find it a great experience. It’s like going to a concert and having a group of people in front of us dressed in all white… so it looked like they were sitting there waiting for the bands behind them to start.”
Another male player, who also chose to remain anonymous, said: “The whole experience was horrible. I didn’t want to go out and play, I would have been embarrassed walking to the [men’s] change room.
“My girlfriend and I decided to go for pizza. I don’t go to Wimbledon, so I never go to the [women’s] change rooms. If I wanted to, I could. It was a bad experience for me, that’s for sure.”
Others agreed. One male player said: “I just didn’t feel comfortable