Rome: The Great Leggings Crisis.

I love it when the players wear leggings. And while we’re on the topic - sleeves rock too.

It lends itself to a cosier, organic world view of the sport in which we, mere mortals, get to believe we’re not that far removed from it’s elite.

Venus of course, with her willowy frame, takes things to another level. The sixties, jewel heists, Audrey Hepburn – that sort of thing.

Fair enough? Good. Coz everything’s changed.

When Dementcha took to court in both sleeves and leggings yesterday, I may have been mildly amused, but was veering more towards wondering why I’d only seen her try it out once before – it seemed to sit well with both her athleticism, and more pragmatic, image-is-not-quite-everything approach to tennis.

We all know what happened there.

Ana followed that up with a 6-2 7-5 win over Nadia today. A quite heinous first set from Petrova, but let me unmask the real culprit: Baby-blue (sleeved) worn over suitably sleek black leggings.

# DA-DAH-DAAAAH!

Picking apart JJ’s 6-0 6-1 demolition of Venus today, two things seem to stick out.

The first is JJ’s impeccable performance. Not especially surprising given she’d been playing well all week. On the other hand, I’ve not seen this level from her since 2007 or thereabouts.

The second involves more of those black leggings - teal sleeves over black leggings to be precise. And not even the fact that she wore it so well, would prevent Venus from being engulfed in it’s fury.

Serena, Jelena, Ana and MJMS left standing. Neither wore leggings of any sort. Just saying.

No longer surprised at Bepa’s first round exit. She’s got a rather lot to answer for don’t you think?

(Photo: AP)