Cornet responds to warning for changing shirt

NEW YORK—You probably noticed that Tuesday at the US Open was hot, really, really hot. The heat rule was in effect for both the men and the women who were out there melting on the hard courts.

Bottles of water were chugged, shirts were changed and breaks were taken. One heat-induced lapse in judgement involved Alize Cornet. After splitting sets with Johanna Larsson, she took her 10-minute break but returned to the court with her shirt on inside-out. She quickly changed it on court.

The result was a warning from the chair umpire, which caused the internet to explode.

Male players change their shirts on court all of the time, so it was an understandable reaction. The US Open issued a statement correcting the situation, ensuring that it won't happen again.

"All players can change their shirts when sitting in the player chair. This is not considered a Code Violation. We regret that a Code Violation was assessed to Ms. Cornet yesterday. We have clarified the policy to ensure this will not happen moving forward. Fortunately, she was only assessed a warning with no further penalty or fine. Female players, if they choose, may also change their shirts in a more private location close to the court, when available. They will not be assessed a bathroom break in this circumstance."

Cornet would lose to Larsson, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. On Wednesday after her doubles loss, she responded to the frenzy over what could really be dubbed "shirt-gate".

"I think it's very fair from them to apologize to me. I really appreciate it," Cornet said. "When I woke up this morning, I didn't think that this code violation would become so famous in less than 24 hours, and I'm very surprised about it, actually, to be honest. Because on the court, it really seemed like a mistake from the umpire and nothing else. That's how I take it."

She stressed that the warning was a mistake, and to be fair, it was hot for everyone out there.

"Once more, yesterday was a mistake from one person, and it doesn't involve, like, WTA, the USTA, US Open, anything," she said. "I want to be clear about it, and I didn't take it that bad, you know. I was just maybe disturbed for 10 seconds, and that was it."

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