Tennis star Camila Giorgi grew accustomed to testing the rules over the years, but she came close to pushing things a step too far at the 2022 French Open. That’s after a quibble over her choice of attire drew the ire of officials of Roland Garros. Giorgi, 32, was pulled aside by the umpire ahead of her third-round clash against Aryna Sabalenka in Paris. Just as Wimbledon has its own stringent rules over kit, overseers at every major are tasked with ensuring players meet their dress code guidelines.
On this occasion, it was a logo sponsorship for kitchenware manufacturer DeLonghi that raised eyebrows among those in charge. And Giorgi was told to get changed seconds after stepping onto the court for one of the biggest matches of her career.
The WTA Tour veteran could be heard telling the official: “I don’t have any change, this is my only dress. I played with it before.”
Although the Italian was correct in that she’d worn that style of dress earlier in the competition, it did not share the same DeLonghi advertisement. She was permitted to play on and scored a big upset against Sabalenka, coming back in style to beat the Belarusian 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.
And there’s every chance the emblem acted as a good luck charm for Giorgi, who crashed out of the competition at the next stage. She suffered a conclusive straight-sets defeat at the hands of Daria Kasatkina – and there was no sign of her DeLonghi sponsor on this occasion.
