Bianca Andreescu blames Nike for windblown skirt at U.S. Open, apologizes

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Canada's Bianca Andreescu blamed sponsor Nike for a wardrobe malfunction, saying it impacted shots in her first-round match against Harmony Tan of France at the U.S. Open. She later apologized to the company.

The problem occurred early during her 6-9, 3-6, 6-1 victory on Monday in Flushing, N.Y. Andreescu hit a few balls with her racket and her skirt kept blowing up in the wind. She tried to play around it by altering her shots.

She then approached the chair umpire to request an outfit change.

"Will this not count as one of my changeovers? I mean it's not my fault, it's Nike's fault," Andreescu told the umpire. "This dress is so, so bad. ... I need to go. This is really bad."

Andreescu returned to the court in a different outfit, going on to fire 21 winners and collect 17 unforced errors in the victory. She converted 6 of 9 break points in the 1-hour, 39-minute match.

"I meant no disrespect with what I said to the umpire," Andreescu told reporters in her post-match news conference. "I was trying to convince him to not take away that washroom break, because I know we only get two. He was very nice to say it was totally OK.

"I could have definitely used a different choice of wording. So I apologize to anyone I disrespected. I love Nike and I hope I can be with them for the rest of my life!"

Andreescu will face No. 15 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil in the second round Wednesday in Flushing. The winner of that match will face No. 17 Caroline Garcia of France or Anna Kalinskaya of Russia in the third round.

Andreescu, 22, won the 2019 U.S. Open for her lone Grand Slam singles title. She hasn't advanced past the second round in any of the three other Grand Slams.