Thursday, July 13, 2017

Black and Blue


THIS is why newspapers need lots of editors.

And talk about a missed photo opportunity. The story was mostly about an 18-year-old from Austria, Jurij Rodionov, who the Journal said "appeared to be wearing a royal blue brief with navy trim, which wasn’t going to fly. A tournament supervisor was called to the court to confirm the findings of the chair umpire. She did. Then she explained to Rodionov that his underwear might become visible when his shirt hiked up during the service motion. Rodionov fished through his tennis bag, and pulled out another blue-and-blue number. That got him sent back to the locker room. A spare was located. The match ensued."


Other media outlets had the good sense to capture the moment, although we still didn't get a peek at the "blue-and-blue number."

UPDATE:


A boys' doubles team also got busted -- top-seeded Zsombor Piros of Hungary and China's Wu Yibing were handed white briefs by a courtside official and sent back to the locker room to change after their undies of color were detected. Piros had blue (un)mentionables beneath his white shorts while fellow 17-year-old Wu had opted for black. Piros and Wu won that match on Wednesday. However, sporting their new white underwear, they lost in the second round on Thursday against Sebastian Korda and Nicolas Meija. "The blue and black shorts were our lucky pants," said Piros, who had worn his more colorful attire in the early rounds of the singles tournament. "There were no signs to indicate we were supposed to wear white underwear. I only got caught out because a little bit of blue was showing. Some umpires don't say anything. Maybe they prefer not to focus on the underwear." Piros said the white replacements rustled up by tournament officials were very comfortable. "They never asked for them back," he added. "If I come back to play here again, I will remember not to wear blue or green." Despite the clothing conundrum, Piros said he wasn't unhappy at the saga. "I think it's kinda funny," he added.


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