WTA fashion at the Dubai tournament: who rocked and who hit rock bottom?

15
Wilson Blade 9

Women’s Tennis Blog is known for its Grand Slam fashion overviews, but Dubai is one of the biggest tournaments of the season with its 64-player field, so tennis apparel companies are definitely eager for their representatives to show up at the Aviation Club Tennis Center and display their new designs. Last year I also made the Dubai WTA fashion overview and let’s see now what the brands prepared for February 2015. 

Daniela Hantuchova, Ana Ivanovic, Simona Halep in Adidas Adizero - Dubai Tennis Championships 2015

I’ll start with the best of the best and it has to be Adidas’ Adizero line, rocked by Daniela Hantuchova, Ana Ivanovic and Simona Halep. I am sometimes fed up with always favoring Adidas Adizero, but what can I do when it really is the best. I think that this line works for everyone. It caters both those who prefer simple and sporty looks and those who like to have the edge, as the wonderful mesh back provides just enough stylish visual interest. Also, both the Adidas Adizero Spring Dress worn by Ivanovic and the separates worked by the finalist Halep are equally perfect options.

Andrea Petkovic - Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2015 -DSC_5965

Stella McCartney also did an awesome job and Caroline Wozniacki, Garbine Muguruza and Andrea Petkovic all looked great in her subtle floral designs. Stella is not consistently great as Adizero, but this Adidas Spring 2015 Barricade collection is a hit in my opinion. I especially like the peach flowery pleated skirt.

Sabine Lisicki, Lucie Safarova, Petra Kvitova - Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2015

Nike was all pink in Dubai. Sabine Lisicki, Lucie Safarova and Petra Kvitova all wore the Spring Victory Printed Skirt paired with the Spring Advantage Printed Tank, or Spring Advantage Printed SS Top in Kvitova’s case. I like these clothes in a sense that they are lively and cheerful, but nothing more than that.

Vera Zvonareva - Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2015 -DSC_4325

Fila, New Balance and Asics were in the orange department, as seen in these photos of Vera Zvonareva, Heather Watson, Julia Goerges and Samantha Stosur. Pretty dull overall, except for Watson’s kit. The Brit has recently partnered with New Balance and after her lovely blue Hobart outfit, this bright cherry Spring Challenger Print Tank and the matching skirt are another great choice of the young WTA star.

Belinda Bencic - -DSC_5420

Another young women’s tennis force looked awesome in stripy sporty style – Belinda Bencic in Yonex separates. Yonex most famously used to be the clothing sponsor of Elena Dementieva and, quite frankly, never impressed, but I am positively surprised by their new designs, or they just look awesome on the rising Swiss miss. The world No.37 worked the Yonex Melbourne Tank and the skirt that goes with it, in both bright pink and dark blue.

 

Alize Cornet - Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2015 -DSC_3746

The navy camp included a variety of brands and players. Monica Puig is doing a great job in helping Ellesse rise to tennis fashion prominence again (even though this white panties photo may not suggest so :)), Lacoste traditionally didn’t bring absolutely anything new, as witnessed by Alize Cornet‘s outfit, while Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Angelique Kerber both looked great in the navy and orange Adidas tank with criss-cross spaghetti straps and the skirt with fun all-around pleats.

Venus Williams, Arina Rodionova, Jarmila Gajdosova in EleVen at Dubai

Just as at the Australian Open, in Dubai we enjoyed the EleVen Ola collection, worn by Venus Williams, Jarmila Gajdosova and Arina Rodionova. As you can see, the leading item was the EleVen Women’s Ola Print Love Tank.

Agnieszka Radwanska, Karolina Pliskova - Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2015

As for Lotto, after its spectacular 2014, we’re yet to see something even remotely interesting on Agnieszka Radwanska in 2015, while Karolina Pliskova has made the run to the finals in, I’m sorry to say, equally bland Li Ning piece.

What do you say? Do you agree with my take on the WTA Dubai fashion? (photos by Jimmie48)

15 COMMENTS

  1. Wow, nice retrospection! 😀 I’ve been enjoying following these past few tournaments with the great photos
    One that I’m sad was left out was Flavia! I thought her outfit was surprisingly cute, as I initially thought the black version of the skirt would look too granny-ish. I like Monica’s outfit too, but I hope that brand will try some new silhouettes since svitlona wore that in white and yellow at the aus open

  2. Nice review! Sadly, most of the kits were from the Australian open so no big surprise. I really liked Bencic’s Yonex kit. Very sporty and youthful.

  3. Flavia’s grey version of the skirt (Stella McCartney) also looks good. I definitely like Ana Ivanovic’s dress. It’s the best amongst the rest. Surprisingly, I love Julia Goerges Fila outfit. It suits her. EleVen definitely is rocking the tennis fashion in the last few months. Kudos for Venus for wonderful, edgy yet sporty designs.

  4. Ga, thank you! 🙂 I’m glad you like our photos. Now my photographer Jimmie48 is taking a short break and then our next tournament is Stuttgart in two months. About Pennetta, I actually planned to include her initially and selected a photo I would use, but in the end I somehow skipped it. I agree, it was also an excellent outfit, although I do prefer the pale pink version. As for Ellesse, I think they’ve been doing a great job recently and Monica and Elina are perfect representatives of the brand. This is just the early period of Ellesse’s revival, they will sure evolve further.

    Sabey, yeah, I think I never liked any of Dementieva’s Yonex dresses and Bencic looks refreshing and youthful, as you said, in their clothes. I hope we can expect more of these positive developments in the future.

    Emman Damian, personally, I’m not impressed with the new Fila collection. Their last outstanding piece, as far as I remember, is Jankovic’s cheerleader 2014 Roland Garros dress, and the rest of that collection.

  5. Since I am becoming a big fan of Muguruza, I did like her peach floral Stella McCartney. I hope she continues to step up her wardrobe, like she has her game. Also good to see Heather Watson get a clothing and shoe deal with New Balance. (Huh, I thought NB was what old guys in the USTA leagues wear!) Allthough not shown, did like Zarina Diyas purple Srixon outfit. If you check out the Japanese firms website, you will see that Diyas is the model for their ladies attire, and there are some actual dresses she wears that look nice. But she never wears them to play, opting instead for the more classic sleeved shirt look.

  6. Jim, thanks for the Zarina update. Nice clothes, not groundbreaking, but definitely worth our attention. Zarina is a good model. My favorite from the items I’m seeing at the website is the dress (the white version), as I can see it is the only dress they currently have.

  7. Jim, yes, I’ve seen them wear leggings many times, especially at Doha. Although they generally don’t incorporate the leggings stylishly, rather, they just put them on and somehow they don’t fit the rest of the outfit (e.g. they wear leggings on a dress, and it doesn’t look good). Here’s Jankovic’s last year’s photo from Doha, for example: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/jelena-jankovic-of-serbia-defeats-angelique-kerber-of-news-photo/469520849

  8. Marija, I particularly like the one with the leggings that Zarina wears. Would be good for a fall match in Japan. Have you ever seen a WTA player wear leggings in a match? I know Bethanie Mattek-Sands has worn the knee high socks before.

  9. Tennis Island, I didn’t make it explicit in the article, but the title’s “rock bottom” part refers to Lotto…

  10. I’m afraid I don’t agree with everyone else about the Adidas clothes. I think that the dark blue is an ugly colour and particularly doesn’t suit Daniela who is quite fair, and the lighter blue is not much better. I don’t like the orange stripe dress on Anastasia or Angelique either – the stripe is too low and the dress looks unbalanced. I’m also completely over the ghastly Nike pink dress which everyone still seems to be wearing. And poor Karolina P urgently needs a new sponsor who can flatter her lean frame.
    My favourite is Eleven – fresh, interesting but not to fussy and flattering colours. I also quite like the Stella Macartney dresses in all colour combos, although perhaps it is a bit fussy and a bit ill-fitting at the top. I don’t mind the more sporty looks like Vera, Agnieszka, Alize and Belinda. I think if the designers can’t come up with something really special then it’s best to keep it simple.

  11. CLT725, you said “I think if the designers can’t come up with something really special then it’s best to keep it simple” but you see in Venus’ case, whose collection you like, she is the best example of a brand experimenting with fashion, going through an absolute fail phase until finding a perfect balance between keeping it simple and offering something new and refreshing. I think brands should experiment, like Lotto did last year, even though Aga’s 2014 prints would not top my list of best styles.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here