We’re well into autumn, what I think of as the long dry season in professional tennis. Once the U.S. Open ends, I find it hard to muster much enthusiasm for the year’s remaining tournaments, at least until the tour finals. I’ve been looking at these players all year. I’m tired of them. They look a little tired as well.
To make matters worse, clothing manufacturers don’t introduce new lines in the post-major dregs of the season. It’s enough to make a tennis blogger question why she started a weekly fashion face-off in the first place. What in the world was I thinking?!
Fortunately we can always look to the past for blogging inspiration. This week we’ll consider the style transformation of Roger Federer.
We’re all familiar with Federer’s dapper duds, both on and off the court. His tennis togs fit to a tee, with crisp lines and beautiful proportions. And, of course, he has that coif, too.
Here’s some classic Fed from earlier this year:
At the beginning of his career, the Swiss maestro was a bit less urbane. It’s hard to think of him as anything other than debonair, but take a look at him in 2001:
To be honest, I’m kind of loving the ponytail. And the necklace. And the stubble. (Yes, Roger had STUBBLE!) The Fed’s got a bit of a bad boy vibe going on here.
I can’t make up my mind about the clothes. Are they sloppy and disheveled on purpose, as part of the overall edgy look? Or did Federer just not care about his clothes at that point?
Or maybe that three-sizes-too-big look was all Nike offered in the early 2000’s.
We have just one quick poll today. As I said in my Monday post, LittleYellowBall is on hiatus next week–a perfect opportunity for you to catch up on all of LYB’s old posts!
Happy tennis, everyone!
I take great offense 🙂 that you think looking neat and HOT is “vanilla”! There is nothing boring about Fed’s current look. Yeah, you know I’m not a ponytail, disheveled, bad boy fan. But really, can anyone say that first photo isn’t yummy?
OK, you’re allowed your chocolate votes. Gotta love diverse opinions. There’s always the benefit that we don’t have to argue over who gets what (whom?). But in this case, I guess it’s neither of us actually does. Oh well. His loss. 🙂
Yes, I thought I’d get some grief over the “vanilla” analogy. Once the phrase “Fed flavors” popped into my brain, there was no getting around the vanilla/chocolate comparison. And clearly the earlier photo can’t be the vanilla one.
That said, vanilla gets a bad rap. I like the subtle complexity of it–there’s nuance to vanilla that you don’t get with chocolate. Chocolate is much more in your face.
Now watch all the chocolate lovers start complaining…
I like the new look, but as long as he’s not rockin’ a Man Bun, I’m good.
I don’t know. I kind of like a good man bun. Definitely has to be on the right person, though.