After her second round win in the Australian Open on Wednesday, Eugenie Bouchard performed a little twirl at the request of a male interviewer that set loose the hounds of sexism.
After an impressive victory to advance her to the next round of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, Bouchard was asked in front of the crowd by post-game interviewer Ian Cohen of Tennis Australia to "twirl" so everyone could see her outfit,
according to ESPN.
"A twirl, like a pirouette, here you go," said the world's No. 7-ranked player before complying with the request, noted ESPN.
Bouchard later told reporters at a news conference that the twirl request was "very unexpected. I don't know, an old guy asking you to twirl. It was funny."
Serena Williams, the world's No. 1 player, told reporters Thursday that she was also asked the twirl after one of her matches and wondered if the same question would be asked of male tennis players during on-court interviews.
"I wouldn't ask Rafa or Roger to twirl," said Williams, referring to Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. "I didn't really want to twirl because I was just like, you know, I don't need all the extra attention. Life is far too short to focus on that. Whether I twirl or not, it's not the end of the world."
The twirl request brought strong criticism on social media from the likes of tennis icon Billie Jean King and others.
Bouchard tried to laugh off the incident by reposting this cartoon of the incident.