Style Seeds: Kings of Adidas (Andy Vs. Jo)
Ding! Ding! Ding! Round three of Style Seeds kicks off the Adidas stretch of our weekly sartorial round-up. Today sees the British and French No. 1s face off for the title of Adidas King. Who will slay the competition?
Embed from Getty Images| Doha |
Murray kicked off his 2014 campaign at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha. He won just a single match before falling to No. 40 Florian Mayer, in a topsy-turvy three setter. The Scot sported an AdiPower semi-fit shirt in a flame red shade, kitted out with long line Adizero bermuda shorts and his favored shoe, the CC Adizero Feather III in a sharp black, red and white contrast colorway.
Embed from Getty Images| Australian Open – Rotterdam – Acapulco – Marseille |
Both men transitioned their debut Australian Open gear throughout the first half of the tennis season. Tsonga’s lengthy three setter against the Swiss maestro, Roger Federer, may have put him on the losing side of the net but his Adizero tennis polo in white – with feature burnout mesh and baby blue collar – won him the style stakes. He maneuvered the court in the updated CC Adizero Feather III in a solar blue and white colorway.
Embed from Getty ImagesMurray meanwhile stuck to Adidas’s darker spectrum of blues for the Aussie swing, sporting the AdiPower semi-fit shirt in a contrast tri-blue and solar blue colorway. Murray’s footwear of choice, the popular AdiPower Barricade 8 came spring ready in complimentary shades of solar blue and night shade, a shoe that helped him journey all the way to a quarterfinal showdown against Tsonga’s conqueror, Roger Federer.
Embed from Getty Images| Dubai – Indian Wells |
While the palm desert of the BNP Paribas Open wasn’t the most fruitful location for Tsonga, he instead cut a classic figure on court dressed in an Adizero polo in a monochrome solar blue shade adopted from the Adidas spring line.
Embed from Getty ImagesAdidas kitted Murray out with an AdiPower semi-fit shirt version of Tsonga’s polo whites from the Australian Open. His white-on-white heat defying look and matching branded hat protected the Scot from the harsh California rays – a style that played to his benefit in the three matches he played, all of which went three sets.
Embed from Getty Images| Miami |
On the purple courts of the Miami Open Tsonga played a game of fashion mix ‘n’ match, sporting his much-favored Adizero polo silhouette – this time in flame red – with contrast white bermuda shorts and CC Adizero Feather III shoes in the same colorway as his Australian Open kit.
Embed from Getty ImagesMurray’s run in Miami was halted in the quarterfinals against off-court friend and on-court nemesis, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Murray did however sneak a straight sets win against his Style Seeds competitor Tsonga a round prior – a mini-win for the Scot. Dressed in a Adizero polo shirt adopted from Tsonga’s Indian Wells wardrobe, it’s fair to say he’s back on level terms in the style stakes.
Embed from Getty Images| Monte Carlo |
Tsonga finally broke free of the blue-on-blue-on-blue shackles of the Adidas spring line, entering the clay season at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters in an Adizero polo shirt in a vivid shade of neon orange. The Frenchman fell again to Federer in the quarterfinals, but not before snatching a sneaky opening second set with the loss of just two games.
Embed from Getty Images| Madrid – Rome – Roland Garros |
Murray’s foray on clay began at the Mutua Madrid Open, leading to the ancient ruins of the Internationali BNL d’Italia Masters 1000 in Rome where not even a breadstick opening set helped him to defeat the King of Clay in the quarters. But Murray’s Barricade semi-fit shirt in neon shades of yellow took him all the way to the semifinals of Roland Garros for the first time since 2011.
Embed from Getty ImagesTsonga’s home slam was a rather classic affair, the Frenchman adopted a white-on-white palette normally associated for the grass season with an Adizero tennis polo accented with orange and blue trim and Roland Garros emblem. His CC Adizero Feather III shoes arrived dirt-ready in a complimentary orange and navy blue colourway complete with a soft grey webbed upper and white sole.
Embed from Getty Images| Queens – Wimbledon – Moselle Open |
Murray’s transition onto the grass following a clean-sweep of the Aegon Championships–Wimbledon double in 2013 was more than a little disappointing for the Scot. Murray lasted just three matches at the Queen’s Club, falling to chip-and-charge pro Radek Stepanek in an opening set tiebreak that lasted a nail-biting twelve points. As the defending champion under the lights of Centre Court, Murray’s all-white Adidas affair wasn’t enough to prevent Bulgarian prodigy, Grigor Dimitrov, from defeating him in a match that surprisingly lasted just three sets.
Embed from Getty ImagesAdidas updated Tsonga’s penchant for polos at Wimbledon with a classic crew Adizero shirt in crisp white with matching bermuda shorts detailed in navy.
Embed from Getty Images| Toronto – Cincinnati |
The American hardcourt swing for Adidas called on a similar blue language first introduced in Australia. Murray’s Climachill shirt in both rich and dark blue, accented with night grey piping perfectly offset the courts of the Rogers Cup in Toronto and the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
Embed from Getty ImagesTsonga got his Miami revenge over his Style Seeds nemesis in the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup. It was a dream week that saw him defeat four straight Top 10 players, including top seeds Djokovic and Federer, marking his first title of the season. Tsonga celebrated the wins in a daring electric green Adizero shirt, stylized with a faded ombre print and retro black and green piped socks.
Embed from Getty Images| US Open – Shenzhen – Beijing – Valencia – Paris |
Murray sported his US Open kit five times during the second leg of the 2014 season. Though his performance in New York garnered a fairly disappointing quarterfinal loss to Djokovic, Murray collected his first title of the season at the Shenzhen Open in China, and another in his slam separates on the indoor hardcourts of the Valencia Open. Murray’s Barricade Climachill shirt in night grey complete with bermuda shorts in black was an ideal all-rounder. His signature CC Adizero Feather III were given an injection of color in electric green, complimented by matching sweatbands.
Embed from Getty ImagesLike his counterpart, Tsonga stuck to dark, sleek shades for the US Open, in a night grey and black version of his Rogers Cup victory outfit. Tsonga accessorized with CC Adizero Feather III’s, given a slam-ready update in flame red.
Embed from Getty Images| Shanghai – Vienna |
Murray kept things conservative at both Shanghai Rolex Masters and Erste Bank Open in Vienna, where he picked up his third title of the season, defeating the No. 5 ranked David Ferrer in a tight three setter. He called on his signature Barricade Climachill shirt in black paired with bermuda shorts in night grey, completing the look with a pair of AdiPower Barricade 8’s in a contrast orange and black colourway.
Embed from Getty Images| Tokyo |
Tsonga closed out his Asian swing at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo wearing a crew neck Barricade Climachill shirt in the flame red shade adopted from his daring US Open footwear.
Embed from Getty Images| London |
Murray ended his season at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London side by side with the elite 8. Though he only managed a single win clad in his Barricade separates and electric green CC Adizero Feather III’s against the Canadian rising star, Milos Raonic, he positioned himself back into the elite following what many would consider an anticlimactic year.
So, who wore it best? Vote here in our TTI Style Seeds Poll:
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