Turkish tennis player Zeynep Sonmez took a stand against Wimbledon's dress code policy, claiming she was banned from wearing a pro-Palestine pin while competing at the All England Club. Sonmez, the world's No. 51, beat Ann Li in her first-round singles clash before suffering a straight-set defeat to America's Claire Liu on Wednesday.
Sonmez returned on Thursday to compete in the women's doubles alongside Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro but the pair were defeated in three sets by Shuko Aoyama and En Shuo Liang. Sonmez has often worn a pin on her dress when playing, but said she was barred from doing so at Wimbledon.
'I used to wear a pin. Tournaments no longer allow me to wear it,' she said. 'We had a discussion with the organizers because the Ukrainian flag is allowed but the Palestinian is not. They ultimately told us they definitely would not allow it. So, I can't wear the pin. I can use the vibration dampener, and they can't object to that.'
Sonmez used a watermelon-shaped vibration dampener on her racket, a reference to the fruit grown in Palestine and used as a symbol of solidarity. The 24-year-old's stance has drawn support from Turkish Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Askin Bak, who praised her for holding "conscience, courage, and human values above all else."
Wimbledon has a strict all-white dress code for players, but the organisers have shown a willingness to bend the rules in the past. In 2024, they allowed Ukrainian player Elina Svitolina to wear a black ribbon to show solidarity with the victims of a Russian bombing of a children's hospital in Kyiv.
