Fashion: Australian Open 2012

This was originally published on OnTheGoTennis and is reprinted here with full permission.

Caroline Wozniacki has had to wear some hideous things of late.  She’s been in all manner of frills, puffballs, and fabric that add an extra 10kg to her frame.  Thankfully, Stella McCartney has gone back to basics for Wozniacki’s 2012 AO campaign.  Her bright orange dress fits snugly to her body, which compliments Wozniacki’s figure far better than anything loose and flowy.  The dress flairs out around her hips and adds a bit of glamour when she swings through her backhand.  My only criticisms are that the back of the dress is far longer than the front, the pattern looks a little weird, and the visor should have been white.  Other than that, the world number one finally looks great.

Final Grade:  8/10

Victoria Azarenka is decked out in shorts and a singlet.  It’s an outfit, her Nike reps say, that is inspired by the Australian surfer look.  If the look they’re going for means fun, relaxed, and a little bit tomboy, then they’ve nailed it.  But do we like it? I vote yes.  I’ve never really bought the idea of Vika in pink, girly dresses, so it makes a nice change to see her in something that fits her loud personality.  I’m not huge on singlets, but her shorts looks practical, cool, and they show off those ultra long legs.  It’s a good look for one of the hot favourites.

Final Grade:  7/10

When Jelena Jankovic switched to Fila, I anticipated terrible things.  White singlets, dull skirts, the identical outfit as the person opposite the net… safe to say I didn’t expect to be writing good things about Jankovic’s outfits again.  I’m not sure if Jankovic has any input into the designs she wears, but she’s taken Fila from fug to fab overnight.  Fila could also teach Adidas a thing or two about colour-blocking; they’ve clashed colours with perfection.  We’ve seen pink/red and orange/pink pulled off without fear in a flattering dress.  She’s worn four different outfits this fortnight, and the one below is my favourite.

Final Grade:  8/10

Maria Sharapova just keeps upping the ante when it comes to her game and fashion.  She’s been in Australia a long time now – long enough to work on her serve and her tan.  She’s so tanned, that her blonde hair and skin positively pop against her white and lime green dress.  It’s a simple design that Maria has made look anything but simple.  As per usual, she’s ahead of the field.

Final Grade 9/10

Roger Federer and his wife have been working hard to reinvent his outfits.  The two designed the shirt Federer is wearing for the Australian Open together, adding black detailing to the standard red Nike polo.  It’s a good effort, and it’s nice to see Federer trying to change it up without dropping the collar, but the black pattern looks a little off.  Perhaps it would have looked less like a giant strip of masking tape if it were white.  I’m not a massive fan but points for effort.

Final Grade 6/10

Blue and green should never be seen unless there’s… Rafa… in between?  I’m not so sure.  Whilst Rafa doesn’t look terrible, he doesn’t exactly look like the menacing force he is either.  It doesn’t look like it was designed with Rafa in mind; it doesn’t stand out enough, it isn’t fiery enough, it isn’t ‘Rafa’ enough.  There’s nothing technically wrong with the outfit, except that it just isn’t as exciting as Rafa deserves.

Final Grade:  6/10

Novak Djokovic is dressed in silk pajamas.  He’s also just dropped a set to Lleyton Hewitt.  These things can’t be unrelated.  Every Slam Novak won last year was celebrated in a decent outfit; I thought Sergio Tacchini had moved on from their ‘rich opium user’ look.  However, Djokovic has stepped out again in black clothing that glimmers with a red and white pattern reminiscent of that terrible dragon look from a few years back.  It isn’t a winners outfit.  It isn’t even good.

Final Grade:  4/10

Is Juan Martin del Potro the only man in the top fifteen that looks really good?  Nike have made sure he stands out enough to be noticed as a dark horse, but he isn’t flash enough to look like he doesn’t belong.  He’s got Delpo written on his shoes, navy blue shorts with a single stripe that matches his tee, and a tee that matches the court.  It sounds a little matchy-matchy, but it isn’t.  Remember the delPo days of neon singlets?  They’ve gone, and been replaced with class, style, and a little bit of flair.

Final Grade 8/10

Honourable mentions:  Serena Williams, Julia Goerges, and Viktor Troicki (I’ve never seen a man look so good in orange shorts)

Dishonourable mentions:  Laura Robson and anyone else wearing that outfit, Andy Murray, and Fernando Verdasco x 1000

Photos:  Getty Images

Australian Open Coverage

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be writing for OnTheGoTennis over the Australian Open. I’ll be attending the Open as a fan and plan* to review my favourite match of the day. This match will be one I’ve watched live, and so should provide some inside in to what is going on around the grounds. I’ll be reporting on other happenings as well, so head over there for the next fortnight. Should be fun!

 

*Anyone actually reading me over at One The Go can see that my plans changed. Instead I’m doing mini-reviews of everything I see.

Things I learnt in Brisbane

I was lucky enough to attend Brisbane International on behalf of Tennis View mag this week. It was a great learning curve, not all of it tennis related. Here are a few of the things I’m taking back with me.

Be nice, be polite, and carry on Not everyone is going to like you. Some people are going to be rude for no reason at all. But if you continue to smile and say please and thank you, you can walk away knowing you’re the bigger person. Then you can bitch about them later.

Be assertive and persist My editor gave me some good advice this week, “if you don’t keep asking, and asking, nobody will take you seriously.” The first time I ever asked for an interview with a player I was too casual. “Oh no problem, don’t worry about it, it really isn’t important anyway” is what my tone came across as. I didn’t feel I belonged, and didn’t take myself seriously enough to really believe anyone else would. This time, it was different. I still followed my rule above, but I asked three times in the space of 24 hours. I got my interview.

There are difficult people in every job I work in healthcare. I work for magazines. I’ve worked in a dvd store, I’ve worked on a berry farm, and I’ve worked for my dad. In every job, without exception, I’ve come across assholes. It won’t change and I’m learning not to take it personally.

I’m really young At 24 years old, I was one of the youngest in the media room, if not the youngest. I was also one of the only females. It has advantages and disadvantages. I don’t have the wrinkles of wisdom of Neil Harman, nor the respect a deep voice guarantees you. But I’ve got energy, passion, and time. Those other things will come (hopefully not the deep voice).

There needs to be an overhaul of food at sporting event I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Too many chips, pies, sausage rolls, icecreams, soft drinks. Not enough healthy alternatives. Sushi rolls at $4.50 a pop isn’t reasonable. Water is overpriced. This country has a serious obesity problem and sporting events need to take a healthier approach.

Take every opportunity given You may not get another. It sounds cliche, but so often I’ve talked myself out of stuff I’m afraid of, thinking it will come around on a day I’m better prepared. It is something I’m working on and although I’m sure I haven’t mastered it, I know I’m getting better.

I can’t wait to do it all again Thank you to the staff at Brisbane International for putting on such a great show. Thanks too for those supporting and reassuring me on Twitter. You’re all stars.

Kidspiration

Tennis season may be winding down around the world, but it’s heating up in Melbourne Park where the air is already thick with anticipation over the Australian Open. Courts are hard to come by due to resurfacing, broken drinking fountains have been fixed, there’s new advertising up, and stands are slowly being erected. These few months before the Australian Open are spent preparing for the brief two weeks in which professional tennis players grace the courts. It’s a hell of a lot of hard work for such a short time, but by the time January rolls round, you’re practically gagging for it.

I’m not at Melbourne Park to see professional tennis today, although at one stage Marinko Matosevic strolls past me. I’m here for the Optus 14′s Australian Teams Championships which pits state against state in a boys and girls competition. Every state of Australia is represented here, and so is one entire country – New Zealand, of course, which is too small to be split.

I’ve always found watching young people play serious tennis inspirational. I love watching their mannerisms – did that Queensland boy just pull at his shirt like Andy Roddick? – and their emotion. They’re raw, at this stage in their tennis years, and they play that way. Far too many of them are overly aggressive; you see many balls land in the top of the net and hear the accompanied cries of frustration. Two boys playing behind me exemplify that, each possesses a nice technique but neither is willing to wait for a mistake. The bigger of the boys finally erupts with a ‘come on.’ It shakes the smaller one, and he’s soon emitting his own yells. His catch phrase is ‘unbelievable’, and I hear it echoing across the courts many times. It has an originality to it, a word you can imagine him being famous for one day. I like it.

There’s a rather loud growl coming from court eight. I follow the noise and come across two boys who look far beyond their 14 years. They’re playing a furiously competitive, hard-hitting match in which the loud boy seems to be coming off on top. He roars when he hits the ball, and like the small kid’s unbelievable, it’s something I haven’t heard before. He even emits a Kvitova-like yelp when he wins a point. I’m rooting for the other boy, though. He’s handling his loud opponent with dignity.

There’s much to ponder over when watching a new generation of players. As a boy comes to net to put away a skillful volley, I’m reminded that net play isn’t dead, it’s meerly taken a back seat to the heavy topspin baseline rallies I’m seeing everywhere. Same goes with the one-handed backhand; it’s still there, fighting hard as a minority but impressive to watch when you see one that works. The young girls play like miniature versions of the professionals. They lean hard into their strong backhand but miss easy volleys. I’m also reminded of the fearlessness of youth. Gael Monfils antics are the norm as kids skid over the court, rackets toppling, lanky limbs falling to the ground. A kid hobbles past with an ice-pack strapped to his knee. It’s no wonder.

I’ve come here to watch one boy in particular who hails from my hometown in New Zealand. It’s a town of 40,000 people with an ageing population and dodgy reputation. It has nice tennis courts, though, and my brother has watched the rise and rise of Kyle Butters. He’s playing as number one for New Zealand and he’s won all his matches so far. I spot him through his mop of hair playing doubles against Tasmania. He doesn’t stand out in the warm-up. He possesses a nice backhand and forehand, but so does everyone else. It isn’t until he lines up to serve you can see the big difference. Whilst the others have struggled through close service games, Kyle powers through his. His height allows him to send down ace after ace, the Tasmanian kids can’t even block it back. He wins his first service game to love, and fails to control a smile. It’s the only on court smile I’ll see during my time there. Amongst the yelling, the racket tossing, and the looks of despair, Kyle emits a pleasant calm. He’s shy after his match and it is endearing. He’s one of few I see who looks completely focused.

14 is an awkward age. It’s an age where you begin to lose your innocence, when your friends take over from your parents as the top priority in your life, and the opposite sex starts to look inviting. Most of these kids won’t make it to the professional ranks. Some will find booze and girls and chuck in the racket for nights out with friends. They might pick it up again in their 20s and wonder what could have been. Some of them will find that coveted growth spurt never comes, and despite giving it their all, won’t quite get there. But I think some of them will. I saw the future of Australian and New Zealand tennis today and it looked bright.

475 down, 10 to go…

Del Potro’s tennis career came to an abrupt halt in 2010, leaving his fans concerned, anxious, and heartbroken. It is well documented that before a wrist injury shattered his momentum, del Potro had been poised to make a serious run for number one. First Grand Slam title? Tick. A leap into the top four? Tick. A game that just kept improving tournament to tournament? Absolutely. His injury was devastating.

As he returned to the tour in 2011, I wondered what to expect. I used to imagine what I’d wish for him if a genie granted me such an opportunity. How about…
- At least one title
- Decent appearances at Grand Slams
- An impressive return to the top ten (surely a wish since his ranking was 485 at the time)
- No more serious wrist pain

As it turns out, the genie never appeared. But I got wish my wish all the same.

Congratulations, Juan Martin del Potro, on your return to the top ten.

Tennis View Magazine – Oct/Nov

For those of you unaware, I’ve been an intern for Tennis View Magazine for the better part of the year now. There has been a lot of rewarding moments, but none more so that having two articles published in the latest issue. I’m extremely proud of these articles that I created right from the ideas phase. One is on stalking in the digital age in tennis – inspired by Serena’s encounter earlier this year. The other looks at whether romantic relationships benefit tennis players and how they manage them despite the obvious challenges.

Rafael Nadal is featured on this month’s issue and inside is an excerpt from his new autobiography. Tennis View also features an articles on whether parents suceed as coaches, as well as regular pieces on health, strokes and stategy, and beautiful photos. It really is a good magazine and if you haven’t taken a look but like pouring over tennis in glossy pages, I highly recommend it.

You can order this month’s copy or subscribe here. New subscribers will recieve a free instruction book or DVD with their order.

Thanks for the support and sorry for the blatant plug,

Kait

Dear Andy Murray

Dear Andy Murray,

We’re pretty different, you and I. But we both feel overworked, so I guess we have something in common. Only I don’t play tennis for a living; I work in public health care 47 weeks of the year, at least 40 hours a week. It isn’t exactly a dream job, but I’ve got to admit, there’s some pretty good perks. Like free milk in the tearoom most mornings, and the occasional pack of biscuits due to expire. We get leftover apples from patients, (it used to be bananas before the floods hit), and if you’re in dire need of tampons, well, there’s plenty of them in the store room. So it isn’t bad. I don’t want to do it until I’m 65 though, (that’s the age I’m supposed to retire). So in the weekends I write, because that’s my real passion. And I’m sure you know all about passion, as you play tennis. My understanding is that tennis players play for the love of the sport, not the money. For the feeling of winning, of improving, of having masses of people supporting you through thick and thin. So you must understand that even though I don’t get paid much for my writing yet, I love doing it anyway and nothing can stop me trying to make it professionally. I imagine you can relate.

When you said that comment about the US Open needing to pay you more if they want to extend the tournament to 15 days, I knew you were joking. I mean you already earn more in one day of the US Open than the average person does in a year. If it’s the right day, you can make as much money as most people do in decades. So clearly you must have been kidding, because that sounds rather greedy, and I know it isn’t about the money for you. But you were clearly serious with your comments about the schedule. I have to admit I moan too sometimes when I get sick of working weekends and late shifts. But I’ve got to admit, I’ve got it pretty good. And so do you, from what I can tell. 20 weeks a year and a say in your working schedule? That doesn’t sound too bad to me. And they’re giving you more holidays next year too, so maybe you should see how that goes before you start threatening radical strike action. After all, you don’t really want to strike do you? Because that means you won’t be able to play tennis. And tennis is what you love, right?

Thanks for clearing that up, Andy.

All the best,
Kait

A Quick Congrats To Sam Stosur

Over here at the brilliant Onya Magazine…

http://www.onyamagazine.com/lifestyle/sport/good-onya-sam-stosur/

A Woman’s Place

I’d like to start this blog post by giving a big thumbs up to Mother Nature. Thanks to the torrential rain unleashed on New York this week, the US Open hasn’t had to hide behind any politically correct bullshit to give us all the schedule we really want.

We are now lucky enough to be guaranteed a men’s final where both players are fully fit and rested. Sure, it’s a bad result for the women, whose turnaround time between semis and finals is now much shorter, but as long as the men are accommodated, I think we should all let it slide. We all know the men play proper, exciting tennis, and the women are merely good-looking time fillers. The women’s final won’t even feature that blonde Russian hottie or that giggly Serbian cutie anyway, so I don’t see the importance in giving them any decent time to recover from their semi-finals.

Speaking of semi-finals, what a relief we don’t have to put up with TWO women’s matches on Arthur Ashe. I’ve never been more proud to be a tennis fan than when I saw three men’s matches and one women’s match scheduled for Arthur Ashe. Good on them for shunting the mainly irrelevant match between that Australian and some Dutch chick out to some other court. The best part is we can just pretend it doesn’t exist: it won’t even be on American TV!  Oh and don’t worry if you think anyone actually gives a shit about that match; one prominent (male) journalist has assured us that only three people in the States would bother to watch it anyway.

The same kind of brilliance was applied for the quarter-finals: only one women’s match on Arthur Ashe and all four men’s. Fantastic! What a great display of not letting a petty thing like equality and fairness get in the way of a good tennis tournament. Never mind that there is plenty of time to put all the semi-final matches on Ashe. If the US Open didn’t take this kind of opportunity to show us what they really thought of women’s tennis, well, when would we ever find out? We’d be left in the dark worrying that the equal pay stuff actually meant something deeper than just a bit more money. So girls, since you won’t be watching many strong, empowered females play tennis over the next few days so you might as well get onto that ironing.

Strong Is Beautiful Campaign Misses Its Own Point

The woman falls forward, her flowing dress rising to reveal her barely concealed bottom. Another is shown clad only in a crop top and tight bike shorts, sweat licking her glistening body. A pretty blonde steals the camera’s attention as her dress swings open and hints of cleavage. The screen flicks to another shot of a heavily made-up girl, her face a mixture of concentration and desire. This should be the opening to a bad soft-core porn film, indulged in by 13 year olds after their parents have gone to bed. Instead it is the latest installment in the WTA’s hit and miss campaign, ‘Strong Is Beautiful.’

Strong Is Beautiful started out as a refreshing, important idea. The title of the campaign promised to represent tennis players as strong, independent women, sending all the right messages to young girls. It was an exciting thought that girls would be given a different type of role model:  one that isn’t snapped falling out of nightclubs, doesn’t snort cocaine, and encourages a realistic body image. Women worldwide could see an alternative beauty ideal that encourages strength, dedication, and personality complete with a side of carbohydrates. The WTA had the power to show us strong, healthy women who are beautiful and botox-free.

When the campaign finally did release, there were mixed results. Some videos seemed to fit the theme. Ana Ivanovic was dressed in a pretty but modest gown and spoke in Serbian of the strength she had to develop growing up in war-torn Serbia. The video was interesting, showed another side of the tennis favourite, and she looked naturally pretty without being sexualised. The dress showed that sporty girls needn’t confine themselves to the jock stereotype; athletic girls can enjoy fashion just as much as anyone else.

 

It is a shame the WTA couldn’t continue with those themes. Victoria Azarenka in particular was shown in a barely clothed state, the camera moving slowly up her sweaty body as she spoke of crushing the ball. What the WTA was showing wasn’t the strong woman Azarenka is, but a hyper-sexualised version of her best suited to men’s magazines. In the latest film – the one mentioned in the intro above – the WTA really lost its way. With sweat dripping off their faces and plenty of flesh, the WTA seemed to be fitting right in with the attention-seeking celebrity campaigns we are already over-exposed to.

Over-exposure is the main problem with the Strong is Beautiful campaign. By showing so much flesh and disguising natural beauty behind layers of make-up, we are seeing the women as objects of desire, not the strong personalities they are. Sport is supposed to empower females, not objectify them. The WTA still has time to redeem themselves and refocus on the original message. Until then, they’re sending a completely different message we’ve heard time and time again that harms both womenkind and the WTA. Sex sells.