New York is gearing up for the start of the 2011 U.S. Open, when tennis fans flock day and night to Flushing to watch the world’s best players face off for glory. The focus is, of course, on the game, but fashion has always taken an interest in the sport too—like a certain editor who’s often spotted fronting Roger Federer’s cheering section. Style and sport meet in the on-court uniforms, and while tennis whites are the classic, there may not be much white in evidence this year. Nike’s athletes, at least, will be in roaring Technicolor. The label is dressing some of the game’s best for their games—including Federer and Rafael Nadal on the men’s field, and Li Na, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, and Victoria Azarenka on the women’s—and they’ll be kitted out in brights, from deep reds and pinks for Federer, Williams, and Li to deep ocean blues for Azarenka and Nadal. (The latter—the defending Open champ—gets patterns inspired by the elements, too, with a rainy-looking geometric print.) “This season we really wanted to amplify color,” Nike Tennis’ creative director, Janice Lucena, said. And while fashion designers and athletic designers don’t always see eye to eye, in this she’s right in line with the designers, like Tomas Maier at Bottega Veneta, Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga, Raf Simons at Jil Sander, and Giambattista Valli, who showed flashes of ultra-saturated shades on their Fall runways.
