A television broadcast that slowly zoomed in on a female tennis player as her sports skirt lifted in the breeze did not show anything inappropriate or intimate.
The broadcasting authority has rejected a viewer complaint over the 15-second highlights clip from the ASB Classic tennis tournament, ruling that the footage was neither invasive nor gratuitous.
Complainant Maureen Thompson challenged the broadcast, which aired on January 8, on Sky Network Television's free-to-air channel, Sky Open. She argued that the "close-up direct rear view" of the player "constituted offensive filming" and breached broadcasting standards for offensive and disturbing content.
The clip showed the winner of a women's match courtside at her players' bench organising her equipment and bending over her racket bag. The player was wearing a tennis skort — a light skirt with built-in shorts. While the camera was stationed behind her and slowly zoomed in, her skirt fluttered in the breeze, making her built-in shorts partially visible.
Thompson complained that the camera highlighted the skirt "repeatedly lifting in the breeze", showing "intimate portions of her underwear". She claimed this "invasive focus on [the player’s] privacy was unnecessarily held" and was "offensive and gratuitous", noting that because the footage was from "chosen highlights" rather than a live match, it could have been edited out. She also expressed general concerns regarding the "filming of women in sport".
