“I think tennis fashion has some street elements and there is the whole preppy look, but there’s always a balance between history and the people that are going to push it and rebel against history,” Ravoi says.
But designers are not just held back by the classic tennis looks of past greats, they also have to contend with the fact that the garments they are making are for a high energy sport.
“You’re still limited by using performance fabrics, and basically you want the athletes to be comfortable,” says Erwin Ong, creator of tennis fashion blog Tennis Served Fresh.
Carrow agrees that designers have to straddle the baseline between style and efficiency on the court.
“Some of the limitations that designers face while designing tennis outfits are durability, comfort, and the particular performance of the fabric, while at the same time creating an aesthetically pleasing design,” Carrow says.
But this doesn’t mean that players and designers won’t try to push the envelope, although sometimes they run into issues of function following form.
“A designer will run the risk of letting function follow form simply because each outfit has to provide comfort and allow the player to function properly,” Carrow says. “Chances are that a good designer will address any function/form issues before it is finalized to be manufactured.”
