The Challenge Court Edition
On tennis, decorum, and rebellion
Colin here. Nick Kyrgios recently defended his choice to wear Jordans and a bright red cap while walking off the court at Wimbledon. When a smug British reporter asked if he thinks he is above the rules, Kyrgios deadpanned, “I just like wearing my Jordans.” The journalist was doing a bit of pearl-clutching for the cameras, to be sure, but as most know, the tournament has a longstanding all white dress code. And while this WITI will not attempt to adjudicate the rights or wrongs of this decision (though I do love an elegant tennis white), it did remind me of a different tennis rebel from another era: Agassi. With his style of play and sartorial choices, he shook up the tennis establishment.
An excerpt from his excellent autobiography, Open, sets the stage for how he viewed Wimbledon. He wrote:
“It’s my first time at the most hallowed venue in tennis, and from the moment we arrive I dislike it. I’m a sheltered teenager from Las Vegas with no education. I reject all that’s alien, and London feels as alien as a place can be. The food, the buses, the venerable traditions. Even the grass of Wimbledon smells different from the grass back home.”
He continued: “I resent rules, but especially arbitrary rules. Why must I wear white? I don’t want to wear white. Why should it matter to these people what I wear.
“Above all, I took offense at being barred and blocked and made to feel unwanted.”
Why is this interesting?
Agassi’s lines for Nike ran hard at the conventions of tennis with punk and late-80s appeal. I remember t-shirts emblazoned with phrases like “hit the ball as loud as you can” and the stonewashed denim shorts with the built-in fluorescent spandex liner (here on Etsy for the low, low price of $200). As a kid, I thought the line (and his general vibe) was the coolest thing in the world. It just looked different—like a free spirit amidst the walking dead.
According to Forbes, “defined by bold colors and graphics, Agassi didn’t shy away from working with Nike designers to tell a new fashion and cultural story in tennis 30 years ago. Along with the aesthetics, the eight-time Grand Slam champion also used new materials, whether denim or spandex, to shift the thinking of what tennis fashion could — or should — be.”
Nike brought the line back for a redux in 2020 for the US Open, and it continues to sell. In fact, Kyrgios was wearing a backward Challenge Court hat for a lot of his play this tournament, a playful nod to the neon footsteps of another rebel of the sport. (CJN)
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Thanks for reading,
Noah (NRB) & Colin (CJN)
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