“Since Roger Federer's dabbling in the world of higher fashion, the floodgates for who gets to be interested in style have really opened in men's tennis,” says Caitlin Thompson, co-founder of the tennis publication Racquet. The sport has arguably been building toward that moment for a century, starting with René Lacoste, who introduced the tennis polo in the 1920s and, in doing so, gave the sport its first real style signature.
The throughline since has rarely been subtle. Arthur Ashe wore horn-rimmed glasses that became as recognizable as his game; Björn Borg brought a rock-star aesthetic onto court that had little precedent in tennis; John McEnroe ran color-blocked tracksuits through the 1980s. André Agassi went further still, pairing denim and a mullet with a genuinely rebellious on-court presence, before Roger Federer swung the pendulum back toward polish, precise enough to earn the nickname “Darth Federer” for his all-black kits.
Rafael Nadal popularized sleeveless shirts on tour, and the current generation has kept the variety going: Carlos Alcaraz went through a platinum-hair phase, Frances Tiafoe plays in bold color paired with his “BIG FOE” chain, and Lorenzo Musetti has an ongoing partnership with Bottega Veneta. A century on from Lacoste's polo, men's tennis has ended up as one of the more genuinely style-literate corners of professional sport.
