In the days leading up to the U.S. Open, which begins today, media consumers have been hit with a collection of advertisements focusing on the relationship between tennis and fashion.
The most straightforward one is from the U.S. Tennis Association. It features top players Venus Williams, Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi, Maria Sharapova, Kim Clijsters and Roger Federer all decked out in finery, rather than tennis whites. It reads: "Where High Fashion Meets High Action." And it finishes with the Open's official tagline, "It's Showtime," a phrase that might make Los Angeles Lakers fans flash back to the Magic Johnson era.
The advertisement underscores the advantages tennis has over other sports in matters of style. The players are not hidden behind look-alike uniforms or helmets. Their physiques look particularly swell in street clothes. And more than a few have shown keen interest in high style, most notably Venus and Serena Williams, who are regulars in the front rows during New York's fashion week.
There has also been a Nike commercial with Sharapova that shows her stalking down the street in tennis clothes while onlookers sing "I Feel Pretty" from "West Side Story." The singing is off-key and Sharapova never flashes a smile or offers the slightest flirtatious gesture. Instead, she strides onto the tennis court and fires off a serve with a loud, wholly unattractive grunt. The message could be that this is what "pretty" looks like: a strong, athletic woman determined to win. Or it could simply mean that "pretty" is for wimps.
The former sentiment is preferable because it chips away at the conventional wisdom in the fashion industry that beauty is in direct proportion to a wan, thin physique. If a woman looks like she could be blown over by a sneeze, then she is at the top of the beauty pyramid. Any commercial that aims to topple that notion is welcome.
The print ad from the USTA doesn't have the resonance of a Stuart Smalley affirmation. There's nothing that connects the players to sports, competitiveness or strength. They're even posed in such a way that, aside from Williams' muscular back, they don't look particularly athletic. More than anything, they are meant to look glamorous.
"We wanted to showcase the players for what they really are, global celebrities," says Michelle Wilson, managing director of marketing for the USTA. "Let's show them in red carpet attire."
When "Show Time" was applied to the Lakers, it referenced the team's charismatic Hollywood connections, but it focused on the theatrics unfolding on the court. The USTA's ad is not about the sport. The idea is to package the players as starlets and studs so they'll be compelling even to people who couldn't care less about topspin.
But the advertisement is not particularly convincing. The players are grouped like cardboard cut-outs wearing a motley mix of clothes. The women are attending a cocktail party. Agassi is going to the boardroom. Federer looks as though he could be on his way to the Playboy Mansion. The players don't seem particularly comfortable, either, except for Williams, who looks like she's been doing the over-the-shoulder glamour pose all her life, and Sharapova, who appears to be doing her best Paris Hilton sidelong glance.
Some of the top players may enjoy shopping. They may dabble in design. But that doesn't make them fashion personalities. Besides, the wardrobe in the ad is boring. Nothing about it would intrigue someone who is passionate about clothes.
At best, the sales pitch is exploiting the idea of fashion and the fact that it is cultural shorthand for glamour, sex appeal, excitement and desire. But tennis already encompasses all those things. (See: James Blake. Rafael Nadal. James Blake.) It doesn't need rhinestones and crystals to drive the point home.
Wilson suggests that because the players are "global celebrities," fans anxiously look to see what they'll be wearing. (Who is convinced that there is a single person breathlessly waiting to see what Andy Roddick will be wearing off the court next week? Anyone?) The players are stars because of what they've achieved on the court. Roger Federer looks fine in a suit, but who cares? He's a million times as thrilling when he's bringing a competitor to his knees.
