I Saw What I Didn’t Want to See

Earlier this month, I bemoaned a  few new pieces of clothing in the new Nike and Adidas collections. I hoped–prayed!–that they wouldn’t show up at the Australian Open. But alas, they did.

Australian teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis wore Nike’s Gladiator short but I really wish he hadn’t.

Eugenie Bouchard wore a high-waisted skirt from the Maria Sharapova Nike collection. Again, I wish she hadn’t. This high-waisted tennis skirt trend needs to die, like yesterday. Somehow, they’ve found a way to make some of the fittest athletes in the world look frumpy.

Victoria Azarenka wore a top that I don’t mind actually, but didn’t think I’d see. I’m just glad she didn’t pair it with a high-waisted skirt.

I really hope Nike goes back to the drawing board after this tournament because they’ve really churned out some ugly stuff in the past six months.

*All photos courtesy of AustralianOpen.com

Tomas Berdych Wears Soccer Jersey at Aussie Open

Tomas Berdych is taking the court again today to play his second round match at the Australian Open. Also taking the court is his new get-up from H&M.  Berdych signed with H&M in January 2013. The first outfits were boring and plain.

Berdych at the 2013 French Open

Then they got a little more creative and added some graphics to the shorts.

Berdych at the 2013 U.S. Open

But now they’ve come out with something that can only be described as a “creation.” (Let’s not forget here, that Frankenstein was also a creation)

Berdych at the 2014 Australian Open

Where to begin? The fact that the shorts don’t go with the top? Or the fact that the top is just bad? ESPN analyst Darren Cahill said it looked like he was playing soccer for the Argentine national team. True. But a better comparison is German soccer team Hertha Berlin.

Hertha Berlin jersey

Take away the Nike check, DB, and Hertha Berlin logo and you have Berdych’s shirt.

I was seriously disappointed when Berdych stopped wearing Nike because they have an affinity for light blue and he always seemed to wear those items. And that color always brought out his eyes–the most beautiful eyes on the tour, possibly the planet. So I got my wish for him to wear blue. I guess it’s true what they say; be careful what you wish for. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out.

Seriously, look at those eyes

 

*Photo credits top to bottom: The Associated Press, Zimbio.com, Sport24.com, sevenjersey.com, fanpop.com

 

 

 

 

2013 in review: Thanks for another great year!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,300 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 55 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

As always, thanks for reading! Stay tuned as tennis season ramps up again and look out for my Aussie Open preview coming soon! Happy New Year everyone!

A Look Back at James Blake

For the second consecutive year, an American man has announced his retirement from the tour at the U.S. Open.  Last year, it was Andy Roddick. This year, it was James Blake.  Blake’s career ended in the wee hours of the morning on August 29–just after the stroke of midnight, in fact.  Since I did a look back at Andy Roddick last year, I felt the need to do one for James Blake as well.

In the early 2000s, Blake rocked the fro…or whatever you call this wild ‘do.

Whoa! Big hair!

When he returned from his serious neck injury in 2005, his head was cleanly shaven but he kept the sweatband.

Silky smooth

At the 2006 U.S. Open, he paid tribute to Andre Agassi by wearing a replica of the outfit Agassi wore in the 1990 French Open final, right down to the neon pink undershorts.

Time machine look

Blake’s inspiration from 16 years before

Blake’s career was plagued by lows but balanced out with an equal number of highs.  He was once ranked as high as No. 4 in the world (2006), has 10 career titles to his name, and a 362-251 record.  Though he never made it farther than the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event, he gave us lots of good memories and he will be missed.

*Photo credits top to bottom: BBc.com, worldtoptenthings.blogspot.com, rickey.org, uncredited

Mixed Reaction to Venus’ New Look

Venus Williams took out the number 12 seed in her opening match at the U.S. Open on Monday.  She played a great match which has not been her norm since being diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome, an autoimmune disease, in 2011.  Not only did her play catch my eye, her new look did as well.

Venus wore a dress from her own Eleven line that I actually like. It makes for a very pretty dress, but much like the dress she wore at this year’s Aussie Open, it is better for off court activities.  The floral pattern on a black background is on-trend–I saw a dress with a similar pattern at Macy’s recently. But it’s just not sporty enough to be a tennis dress.

But then there’s Venus’ hair…it’s pink. Venus started rocking the colored weave at the 2012 Olympics. I’m all for showing patriotism in any way possible so I guess I didn’t mind her red, white and blue locks. But this pink hair is looking a little Allegra’s Window-y. Yep. Betcha didn’t think I’d take you down Memory Lane did ya?

Venus’ patriotic hair at the 2012 Olympics in London

 

Left: Allegra of “Allegra’s Window” fame. Right: Allegra’s hair twin, Venus Williams

*Photo credits top to bottom: Eurweb.com, Rollingout.com, Ebay.com (Allegra’s Window), Washingtonpost.com (Venus)

Adidas by Stella McCartney a Flop

Caroline Wozniacki won her first round match at the U.S. Open on Tuesday 6-2, 7-5 but she certainly won’t be winning any fashion awards.  Her Adidas by Stella McCartney dress is the worst tennis dress to hit the court since Serena’s denim skirt and pleather warm-up boots back at the U.S. Open in 2004.  Why so bad? Take a look…

First of all, this thing is too busy.  There’s so many different things going on here; you’ve got cut-outs, color blocking, multiple straps. It’s too much. Second, the light blue.  It appears on top but then disappears until you get to the bottommost skirt ruffle where it appears almost as an afterthought.  But mostly what bothers me is that odd strip of black on the front of the skirt.  It looks like a high-waisted bikini bottom or, dare I say, a pair of “Granny panties.” And, as you can see in the picture from TennisWarehouse.com below, the pattern continues on the back.

Although I’m glad to see that Woz’s sunny-side up egg dress is gone, this is not a good replacement.

Why did I wear this dress? I look like an egg.

 

*Photo credits top to bottom: The Associated Press, TennisWarehouse.com, Gotceleb.com

Fashion Face Off: Radwanska Sisters

Agnieszka Radwanska and her little sister Urszula showed up at the French Open wearing (gasp!) the same dress!  Both wore a magenta and pink creation from Lotto.  While, Agnieszka is the sister who took home top prizes on who made it farther in the tournament–she is still in it while Urszula  lost in the second round to Dinah Pfizenmaier.  If you haven’t heard of her, don’t worry. I haven’t either.–it is up to us to decide who wore the dress better.

Agnieszka Radwanska

Urszula Radwanska

Something about the way the dress hangs on little sister Urszula makes it look more like a really long shirt than a dress. Maybe it’s the tape covering half of Agnieszka’s leg that makes it look longer on her.  I don’t know.  But whatever it is, I declare Agnieszka the winner of this fashion face off!

 

*Photo credits: Getty Images

 

 

 

Oh no, she didn’t!

Venus Williams began her 2013 French Open the same day she ended it.  She lost to Urszula Radwanska, little sister of Aggie Radwanska, in three tight sets in the first round on Sunday.  But the real headline here–since, after announcing her diagnosis of Sjogren’s Syndrome, Venus winning is more unexpected–is her outfit.

Venus wore, as always, something from her own Eleven line, this time a pink printed skirt (or dress.  We couldn’t tell because she was wearing long sleeves over her top because the temperature has been a little on the chilly side in Paris since the start of the tournament) with matching pink printed leggings.  I previously wrote of the Nike Franken-bottom, the “skapri”, the heinous blend of a skirt and cropped leggings in one piece. But this outfit was truly much worse.

While Venus’ leggings were also cropped (see photo below), it only served to make me sigh in relief that the unfortunate pants didn’t go all the way down to her ankles.  While I’m not a fan of leggings under tennis clothes, if you’re going to do them, at least don’t do them in a print.

Venus waves good-bye to the French Open fans…and hopefully those leggings

 

*Photo credits: Associated Press

A Look at Caroline Wozniacki’s [future] Maybe Wedding

Happy New Year, readers! I hope 2013 finds you healthy, happy and parked in front of the TV watching lots of tennis!

Last week, rumors were swirling that young athletic power-couple, Caroline Wozniacki and Rory McIlroy, a.k.a. Wozzilroy, were engaged.  But on Friday, McIlroy’s people denied this rumor. Before the rumor was denied and Caroline was walking around Brisbane with a large sapphire and diamond ring on an appropriate finger, I got to thinking…she wears Adidas by Stella McCartney on the court so would she wear Stella McCartney on her wedding day?  So, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of Stella McCartney’s bridal designs.

Here is Madonna wearing a Stella McCartney design at her wedding in 2000.

And here is Kate Moss in a more modern Stella McCartney design at her wedding in 2011.

Stella McCartney designed a dress for Nancy Shevell, her stepmother for her marriage to Paul McCartney, also in 2011.

And finally, these are some runway looks from the Stella McCartney bridal collection.

Personally, I can’t see Wozniacki walking down the aisle in any of these looks.  But, since Wozzilroy is not engaged, we’ll have to wait even longer to see what she would wear.

In other tennis wedding news, Maria Kirilenko and beau, Alex Ovechkin are engaged! What will she wear???

*Photo credits, top to bottom: Serenity Moment, rte.ie, dailymail.co.uk, and Wedding Inspirasi

2012 in review–Thanks for reading!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,200 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.