Fashion faults from Roland Garros 2019
Paris may be one of the world's style capitals, but even here, in one of the sport's four most visible tournaments, tennis textile miscues can abound. Roland Garros has given the sporting world so much again this season, yet unforced wardrobe errors arrived from a few brands. Chase these with the RG19 fashion aces to get that sour sartorial look out of your eyes.
Hydrogen created a sartorial disaster with the dress given to Polona Hercog. Fast as one can, best to lightning bolt out of the vicinity of this piece.
Likewise in that brand, Juan Ignacio Londero competed well in trying to face down Rafael Nadal on what is basically his home turf, but his own lightning-bolt print just came off childish, like a second-rate superhero uniform.
By no fault of their own, Elise Mertens, Katerina Siniakova, and others were made to suffer in Lotto's three-years-later knockoff of Adidas' zebra pattern.
Were it more original—or, say, five to 10 years removed—it might fly. Maintenant, c'est une probleme.
Cue Fila, which did so well with Kiki Bertens and some others, similarly outfitting Miami champ Ashleigh Barty for RG19 play in .... zebra stripes. Commence side-eye. Not just one all-to-recent court-style reference, but two of the same in one Slam. Sacre bleu.
That Slam when the croc cracked: Novak Djokovic and Roberto Bautista Agut, in Lacoste.
They were made to don hues of orange that skewed far too close to the color of the surface on which they were competing.
In her EleVen by Venus brand's Love Leopard print, Venus Williams' attire didn't photograph well and, unfortunate for her, didn't get photographed for long, given her first-round ouster. The animal print faded from view in daylight and rendered her look a blase beige.
It was that Roger Federer's confounding Uniqlo kit made him look like a United Parcel Service clerk. Startlingly, UPS's own shade seems more striking than this bored brown.
It's befuddling to see the vibrant, flashy Svetlana Kuznetsova reduced in all-black Nike, especially given that she hasn't formally endorsed that brand and remains attached to Chinese label Qiaodan.
Caroline Wozniacki, always a star in Adidas, would regularly enter a major competition in a kit with a concept, a vision. Not so this time out.
Whether one starkly agrees or disagrees with these fashion takes, style remains subjective and there's a lot to love among Paris's stylish hitmakers. And with that, onward we head toward our closet encounter with Wimbledon's all-white fete.
Follow Jon on Twitter: @jonscott9.
Catch up on Week 1 at Roland Garros on the TENNIS.com Podcast:
