London : Swiss tennis great Roger Federer has been banned from wearing his orange-soled training shoes at Wimbledon after they were found to be against the all-white dress code of the tournament.
The seven-time champion at the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) had worn those shoes in his first round match Monday. The Grand Slam rule book for Wimbledon states that “players at Wimbledon must be dressed almost entirely in white”.
The BBC reported AELTC officials spoke to a number of players about their dress code on the first two days of championship.
Federer has a tie-up with footwear and apparel giant Nike, which designs special Wimbledon outfit for the 17-time Grand Slam champion.
Nike said they had taken note of the strict guidelines: “The AELTC have requested that Roger change the orange-soled version of his Nike Zoom Vapor 9 Tour LE shoes due to their ‘predominantly white’ shoe and clothing guidelines. We are of course happy to comply with this.???
However, Serena Williams has not been asked to change her trainers which has a shade of orange in it. She played in them during her first round match against Mandy Minella.
File Photo : AFP