Tennis players spotted wearing non-white undergarments at Wimbledon have been sent back to the locker rooms to change their clothes, leaving some women ‘forced to play braless’ to comply with the strict dress code, according to Pat Cash.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, the 1987 Wimbledon champion described the tightening of the dress code at the All England Club as “ridiculous” and told of women being sent back to the changing rooms to “change their bras and tops because they had slight colour on them”.

He went on to say that some players without a suitable white sports bra ended up playing braless to comply with the rules.

He also described how one male player was called into the referees’ office because his dark blue underwear “showed through when he got sweaty”, breaking the all white dress code.

A Wimbledon spokesperson said that all players were written to before the tournament and told of the strict rules, but refused to comment on whether any players had been found to breach the code.

Wimbledon’s clothing regulations, designed to avoid the sponsorship-covered sportswear worn by players in other tournaments, state that caps, headbands, bandanas, wristbands and socks must be entirely white except for a single trim of colour “no wider than one centimetre”, and common standards of decency are required at all times.