“A champion is afraid of losing. Others are afraid of winning,” declared Billie Jean King after adding another Grand Slam to her sporting career. Precisely, this North American tennis player managed, half a century ago, to equalize the amount of prizes for female and male participants in the US Open, a claim that demonstrates the power of tennis beyond the court.
Currently, tennis is one of the sports most followed by fans of all ages. So much so that the expectation for Rafael Nadal's return to the court these days in Australia is being one of the big topics of conversation, with the focus especially on the first Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open in Melbourne , which will be held from the 14th to the 28th of this month.
Robert Cordero points out in Business of Fashion that the growing popularity of tennis among a large part of the population is today estimated at one billion people. A boom that has led the main fashion brands, including haute couture, to bet on the best tennis players as their emblems. We are talking about Carlos Alcaraz, who has become a Louis Vuitton ambassador a few months ago: “I remember that when he was much younger he saw people with Louis Vuitton bags. I always wanted to have one. The truth is that I feel very proud, it is a dream to be part of the Louis Vuitton family,” he stated in an interview with Essentially Sports. We confirmed this at the ATP Finals in December in Turin, when he posed before the press with a red and white baseball jacket from the company.
The same happens with the Italian Jannik Sinner, who dresses in Gucci and attends his shows in Milan. “There is a new generation of charismatic players, adulated by social networks and with a taste for fashion who are creating a new path for brands to connect with their audience. The marketing strategies of the big brands go beyond the red carpets,” says Cordero.
What's more, some videos went viral on Instagram and TikTok comparing their sports bags and also those of Sinner and Holger Rune, similar to the blue one from Ikea that, a few years ago, Balenciaga made a must-have with almost a replica.
Fashion has become a primary element of an athlete's image and, at the same time, a large part of the population has been incorporating pieces that were once reserved for the track into their daily clothing. Proof of this was seeing Venus Williams take to the court dressed in Azzedine Alaïa and Prada, and Miu Miu making polo shirts and pleated skirts the stars of its fall-winter 2022 collection.
“That parade marked a before and after. Jacquemus joined him, with the same skirts, the Adidas sneaker collection with Gucci and the Lacoste knitted V-neck sweaters reaching unprecedented sales. The reason? "The new generations interact with players on the Internet, even with live videos, athleisure has crept into every wardrobe and the preppy adjective that tennis had has declined thanks to the popular love for paddle tennis, its great racket companion," explains Joy Clements, professor at the prestigious Central Saint Martins in London.
One more season, the pleated skirt prevails in a mini version. We see it in Lacoste and IKKS. The polo shirt continues to reign, whether in neutral tones or in color gradient versions. Sweatshirts are the counterpoint to cardigans and V-neck sweaters and sneakermania continues to score points with Prada and Miu Miu. Obviously, historical sports brands, such as Nike, Adidas and New Balance, continue to offer garments that are perfect both for marking a match point and for combining with other pieces in our daily lives.
“Before, the clothes worn by Jessica Pegula, Paula Badosa and her current partner Stéfanos Tstisipás or Coco Gauff were not relevant either on or off the court. Now, their fans want to show off their sports uniforms and sponsors use the image of their athletes as a claim. Even the looks of Badosa and Tsitsipas are studied with a magnifying glass on Instagram, she often in Dior and he faithful to his white mandarin collar shirts, the Adidas anoraks in collaboration with Moncler or the Loro Piana poncho that he wore in Turin," adds Clements. DUOO, Pomandère, Dockers, Fred Perry and Sandro follow the path of this trend that extols sporty and comfortable style.
The world of accessories does not stop at sneakers and luxury play sets, like that of Prada, but also includes high-end watches and even jewelry with the pop nod to the racket by Aliita, founded by Cynthia Vilchez, wife of Giovanni Castiglioni, head of the cult brand Plan C and son of Consuelo Castiglioni, founder of Marni.
The sport that celebrities such as Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Kirk Douglas and especially Katharine Hepburn loved so much today has been visually refreshed with Kate Middleton and Roger Federer in exclusive television shows during the Wimbledon tournament. This is also why perfumers like Carner Barcelona have launched perfumes inspired by the field of lawn tennis and that the Wire chairs by Eames for Vitra are sold in colors that buyers were previously more reluctant to use, such as yellow. AND
What's more, the trunk that Gucci and Adidas designed to house 12 pairs of sneakers in plexiglass cases and made of Crystal GG, complete with a footrest and a mirror, has become a collector's item, just like the trunks of Louis Vuitton, handcrafted by expert craftsmen in the house's historic workshops, in Asnières, in which the Australian Open trophies travel. A match point for posterity.
