Novak Djokovic’s career has been in something of a tailspin over the last year. Plagued by persistent elbow pain and an admitted drop in motivation, he axed his entire team, including his long-time coach, to shake himself out of his slump. He brought on Andre Agassi as an advisor, only to dump him a few months later.
In the last few weeks, he has reunited with his old coach, and we can only hope he’ll return to form soon. He won a tough three-setter against Kei Nishikori today and looked to be rediscovering some of his old drive.
While I was watching this match, I suddenly noticed another change Djokovic has made. He’s no longer sporting Uniqlo. Instead he’s being sponsored by Lacoste which today outfitted him in this red and white ensemble:
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I began to wonder. Did Djokovic cut ties with Uniqlo as part of his complete team overhaul? Did he think changing his clothes would help change his game?
Or does he just dislike Uniqlo’s latest line? Coincidentally, across the net, Nishikori himself was wearing Uniqlo.
My awesome husband, who doesn’t care much about tennis or fashion, took one look at Nishikori and recoiled.
“Those brown shorts remind me of Agassi’s stupid Charlie Brown shirt,” he said. I knew immediately what he was referring to.
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We saw Agassi’s shirt in person when we attended the U.S. Open in 1995. Yes, that was over twenty years ago. No matter. The shirt was so heinous he’s still talking about it.
But look at how we come full circle. Agassi wore a weird brown shirt…which matches Nishikori’s brown shorts…made by the former clothing sponsor of Djokovic…who hired/fired Agassi. All of which brings us to tonight’s full slate of fashion questions…
OK, seriously — does anyone ever look good in brown? And that Agassi shirt looks 2 sizes too large. His arms might get caught as he swings. You ask the impossible in choosing between Agassi’s brown and Nishikori’s. They’re both awful. But at least there’s no yellow in Agassi’s outfit (that I can see), so he inched ahead in the poll.
Djokovic’s outfit looks fine, and I’m sure that hit was powerful, but the position looks painful and totally geeky. Where was the poll for that?!
As for Nishikori, he needs to ditch the yellow and the brown. I can’t say I love the Ninja headband either. Even the shirt looks like an old fast-food uniform from McDonald’s or In-n-Out Burger. It’s just NOT a good look.
Omg, I just spit out my coffee! Total fast-food uniform! Too funny!
And yes, Djokovic looks a little geeky. He often does. But I also have a limited choice in photos that I can use from Getty–I do my best to choose ones that give a fair representation of the outfit while making the player look good. I try not to skew the poll results with unflattering photos, but sometimes it’s out of my control.
If you spit out your coffee…then are you now wearing brown too?!
No, my husband is! 😂