Slam Style Seeds: Fashionable French Fancies (Part I)

The second week of Roland Garros is upon us, and the tennis hasn’t disappointed. Players have been impressing us on the clay courts of Paris with upsets galore, dramatic five-setters and some unseasonably cold weather, their new slam swag has been keeping us entertained for entirely different reasons. Part I will explore questionable color combinations (*ahem* Federer) combined with an ode to the smurfs (*ahem* Rafa), and all that’s in between. This week’s Slam Style Seeds deciphers who’s snagged the covetable “Best Dressed” award and who slip-slided into the dreaded “Worst Dressed” list.

Best Dressed

Rafael Nadal

A fairly controversial choice to land on to the “Best Dressed” list, Nadal’s smurf-inspired outfit has been a parody social media sensation since the Spaniard stepped out on to the Philippe Chatrier court. However, this all vivid blue number from Nike looks blindingly brilliant against the red clay. Nadal’s no stranger to donning blue at Roland Garros, having sported a pretty similar shade during his title victories in 2014, 2011 and 2006, so perhaps this is the Spaniard’s good luck shade — not that he needs it. We appreciate the hot lava accents from the Nike swoosh, while the ombré effect of Rafa’s FO Gladiator Premier 7″ Shorts and dip-dye shoes are great design details.

Tomas Berdych

Well, you may be surprised that Berdych is on this week’s Best Dressed list, but it’s for all the right reasons. His brand sponsor — Scandi-fast-fashion heavyweights, H&M — have been fairly hit and miss when it comes to designing for the Czech thus far. This week, however, we’ve enjoyed watching this number maneuver the red clay courts thanks to a contrasting color palette of orange and teal. Teal was a go-to shade for the summer tennis collections, so it’s nice to see H&M pick up on that trend for the second slam of the season.

Grigor Dimitrov

Given its heavy promotion in the lead up to Roland Garros, Nike must be pretty disappointed with the performance of their new poster boy — Grigor Dimitrov — after he tumbled out of the championships in a shock first round exit.

Still, there was no upset with his on-court style.

In comparison to Federer’s outfit which features a similar colorway, the Bulgarian’s separates were executed much more successfully. Dressed in a Nike Men’s Summer Advantage Cool Polo in a striped Persian violet and hot lava design, Dimitrov looked oh-so dapper…even for just a brief moment.

Gael Monfils

The great French entertainer Gael Monfils has been thrilling his home crowd in typically dramatic fashion over the course of the first week, dressed in shades of green. Green is quite a rare color to find when trawling through the tennis fashion archives, so it’s refreshing to see this punchy oak green and safety yellow striped Asics Men’s Spring Club Graphic Crew with matching knit shorts stand out from the richness of the red clay.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Another Frenchman to hit the Parisian sartorial headlines this week is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who was seen sporting Adidas’ new Y3 line in collaboration with Japanese designer, Yohji Yamamoto. All black is a fairly chic way to dress for the courts — and Tsonga looked particularly great in this colorway. He hasn’t dropped a set thus far, and his kit gets a deserved spot on the Best Dressed list.

Novak Djokovic

The World No. 1 — as always — is repping another Japanese brand via Uniqlo. Djokovic’s streamlined outfit of a favored polo shirt and shorts looks modern and minimal in shades of white and navy, accented with neon orange piping. Though perhaps not the most adventurous of outfits, the Serb nevertheless looks sartorially stylish heading into week two.

Worst Dressed

Roger Federer

There’s nothing particularly offensive in regards to Federer’s Nike get-up for Roland Garros, other than the rather jarring color palette the Swiss has decided to don against the red clay. Federer has been making his way around the court in his signature Nike Men’s Summer Premier RF Polo contrasted with a pair of RF Gladiator Premier 7″ Shorts in hot lava accented with aluminum and black. While this is the worst outfit this week, but for Roger this is quite — dare I say — unsophisticated.

 

Simone Bolleli

Camouflage, skull prints and a backwards cap — what is this fashion faux pas? Though Bolleli may fly under the radar on the ATP Tour, his outfits certainly don’t fade into the background. He fell in five sets to David Ferrer on Saturday, giving him ample time to showcase the kit on full display here at Roland Garros. Rest assured, for better of for worse, this is one standout style.

Stan Wawrinka

Switzerland’s second in command also made this week’s Worst Dressed list for his Yonex Grand Prix print shorts and pink accented polo shirt. Wawrinka has been wearing similar styles from Yonex all throughout 2015, and the poor execution of this outfit comes as to no surprise.

Andy Murray

The Scotsman, Andy Murray, closes out our ATP Slam Style Seeds. Under Armour rarely produce flashy designs for the third-seeded Murray, but this design for Roland Garros is particularly drab in shades of grey and black. Though Murray looks best in muted colors, this design seems pretty lackluster — considering that this could be the year Murray could very well go deep at Roland Garros given his successful clay campaign in 2015.

Do you agree with who made our men’s Best and Worst Dressed list for Roland Garros? Sound off in the comments below!