White, still a preferred colour in Tennis
A lot of colours have been dragging these days into the game of tennis however, the private tennis clubs still prefer the gorgeous white.
Venus Williams wore a colourful dress in her match in the French Open last month but that won’t be the case at Wimbledon. It is largely due to the traditions set by the All England Club where the same whites are worn by the players.
Since the end of nineteen century, the bright white has stuck to the game of tennis in Wimbledon. During that era, white clothing was quite popular among the elite class as well and was thus considered a fashion symbol. However, colours have crawled into the courts of tennis as early as the 1970’s.
However, even today, there exists many several private clubs such as Toronto along with Wimbledon who still stick to their policy of white clothing.
Nonetheless, fashion is now considered a part of the sport.
However, there is a definite confusion as far as professional tennis players are concerned.
There are many professional tennis players who wear attractive clothes to gain the attention of the media as well in order to portray their personality in front of the public.
The truth of the matter is that performance is not enough in women’s sports these days but it does revolve around such factors as well.
Fashion is part of tennis even at the amateur phase. A majority of tennis clothing worn during international matches is usually white in colour. Nike, Lole, Stella McCartney, Lija and Adidas are the most famous brands where. On the colourful end of the bar, turquoise is a common choice as it goes well with almost every skin tone.
However, some tournaments and courts promote the use of colours. The editor of Ontario Tennis, Pam Olley plays on a similar court. But even then, he keeps a bag of white clothing as well for the white-only tours. According to him, wearing white colour in fact gives a cooler feeling than the rest of the colours along with the bleaching benefit that goes with it.
Colours are mostly seen in community and commercial clubs that are not strict in discipline. According to the writer of the book named ‘When the Girls Came out to Play: the Birth of American Sportswear’, Patricia Warner explains that the whites started as a symbol of the “good” and has remained this way.
A retired university professor of Massachusetts Amherst, Warner says that the white colour symbolizes social ranking, class as well as money. Even in the 19th century, white colour used to symbolize money as it costs a lot more to take care of it than the darker ones.
With time, women players in tennis slowly started wearing short dresses ranging from floor length skirts to the short, pleated and straight ones. However, white remains the choice for the members of private clubs.
However, not everyone favours this tradition. Andre Agassi, a professional tennis player, from 1988 to 1990 did not play at Wimbledon as a protest to the traditional dress code.
According to the results of the survey carried out in 2005 at the Boulevard Club, most of the members backed the policy of staying with the crispy white tennis clothing policy.
Other private clubs including The Badminton and Racquet Club of Toronto as well as the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club in Rosedale follow exactly the same policies.
Tags: