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“I’m not sure if people can understand how nerve-racking it is when you’re having your days (on your period),” says Poland’s grand-slam semi-finalist and world No 23 Magda Linette. “I don’t think many people can understand how stressful that can be.”
Being on your period — the part of the menstrual cycle when a woman bleeds from her vagina for a few days — can be harrowing enough for many of us, let alone with the extra anxieties for those who participate in elite-level sport while wearing light-coloured sportswear in front of TV audiences in the millions. But now one of the world’s most storied sporting institutions is breaking from tradition, with a subtle but landmark change at this year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament.
For the first time, the rules of the 2023 competition allow female players’ underwear to be a colour other than white as part of a change voted in last November to help ease period anxiety for those taking part. This change applies for the girls’ singles junior event, too.
The rules are still clear — “solid, mid/dark-coloured undershorts, provided they are no longer than their shorts or skirt” are permitted — but it is a…
