Russian tennis beauty receives a pair of leopard-print underwear in a mix-up in Melbourne
Maria Sharapova
Melbourne: Maria Sharapova had a brief encounter with a mystery pair of leopard-print undies on Saturday after a laundry mix-up at the Australian Open.
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Maria Sharapova. Pic/Getty Images
In an unexpected snapshot of a tennis star's life on the road, the Russian said laundry issues were not uncommon — although they don't always involve leopard-patterned knickers.
"Yeah, I actually just returned a pair of underwear that wasn't mine, like 45 minutes ago. Funny you ask that," she said, after a question about laundry from a journalist.
"I don't know if you were like checking out the laundry room situation, but it really happened. It was a female pair of underwear, not male. It was leopard. I'm like, 'That's not mine'."
It's not the first time
The World No 5 said items of clothing often got mixed up when she was on the road. "It happens a lot. I've lost some great things in the laundry. I lost a great T-shirt in Brisbane 10 days ago," she said.
Luckily for Sharapova, she is not one to get hung up on a particular piece of clothing. "Hopefully the individual wasn't attached to their underwear. And I gave it back, so hopefully they'll get it," she said.
"Any more laundry situations I need to clear before we get on with our day?"
Sharapova will now hope to put the episode behind her and make a clean start in Melbourne, where she faces Japan's Nao Hibino in the first round.