When Burberry launched its High Summer campaign last year, featuring blissful photographs taken beachside and on a luxury boat, it wasn’t Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s washboard abs that took my attention — it was the heartthrob tennis star Jack Draper appearing alongside her. The top-ranked British men’s tennis player embodied a cooler, high-fashion energy than his usual on-court style and looked right at home in the brand’s classic check pieces (and not just because he could moonlight as a model if tennis didn’t work out). It was an unexpected casting choice and signified a leveling up in the fashion-meets-tennis Venn diagram: After a lull in style from the universe of men’s tennis, a new generation of stars is ready to reclaim the fashion throne off the court. Today, almost every top-seeded man in tennis has a luxury contract outside of their on-court deals: Jannik Sinner is a Gucci guy, Taylor Fritz and Matteo Berrettini work with Boss, and Carlos Alcaraz has ties to Louis Vuitton — Alcaraz even appeared on the cover of WSJ. Magazine’s Men’s Style issue last September. The competition for most stylish player is thankfully (and finally) back on.
Men’s tennis had its original swag masters in the form of Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, whose ’70s short-shorts and headbands are on the mood boards for retro tennis capsules and top European players like Stefanos Tsitsipas to this day. At the turn of the 21st century, superstars like Andre Agassi leveled up the game, not only with his record-breaking wins but also his singular fashion sense, like wearing denim shorts on court and brokering multimillion-dollar deals with Nike and Adidas. “Andre Agassi had a lot of swag. I remember very well his Nike sneakers,” says Mobolaji Dawodu, GQ’s fashion director at large and a stylist who is currently working with some of the players on the ATP Tour for their arrival outfits. “He used to wear the bands on his hair. Andre Agassi had a vibe.”
But starting in the late 2000s, the style influence of men’s tennis dipped. Later on, the Big Three — Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal — dominated the rankings but kept it safe off the court, largely accepting major deals from athletic brands and sticking to traditional tracksuits and tuxedos for public appearances, while the superstar women of the sport leapt ahead: Serena Williams rewrote all sorts of fashion rules with her denim skirts, tutus, and catsuits in the 2010s. Even just a few years ago, courtside WAGs including Morgan Riddle, Paige Lorenze, and Ayan Broomfield were getting more attention for their looks than their partners were, thanks to their day-in-the-life and outfit-of-the-day content online.
“I think the tennis players are stylish, but the culture of tennis doesn’t allow that to show besides the style on the court,” Dawodu explains. Woodie White III, founder of Oyster Tennis Club, agrees: “Mostly, we see players on media day where they’re dressed in their sponsors’ apparel. Unlike basketball, there is no home team where you can see the arriving to the stadium.” Dawodu’s been working with the ATP to change that: “The NBA has a tunnel. I think it’s time for tennis to have a tunnel.” At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, last month, players like Taylor Fritz, Flavio Cobolli, and Frances Tiafoe walked into the tournament through a new “arrival tunnel” showing off Hermès and Boss suits, Issey Miyake pleated pants, and Stone Island cargo pants. It’s something the ATP is making a regular occurrence, with Miami staging a sunset-gradient “tunnel” and the Monte Carlo Masters slated to do the same.
Usually, stars slip in and out of cars without much fanfare, but with Dawodu on tap to help those who are interested — so far, he’s worked with players like Jakub Mensik, Francisco Cerundolo, and Alex Michelsen — they have all the more reason to flex for the cameras. “Over the last few years, I’ve become more aware of what I like and what represents me,” says Cobolli, who just reached a career-high rank of No. 14 in the ATP. On-court, he’s sponsored by On, but off-court, he’s not tied to one brand, letting him choose ’fits like the relaxed linen suit by Brunello Cucinelli he wore in Miami. It’s not a sweatsuit, but it also isn’t constricting or fussy: “Before, it was more instinctive; now, I pay more attention to the balance between comfort and style.”
For those players not yet grabbing international headlines for their looks, the arrivals are a new opportunity to find and hone their styles — and get a different kind of fan’s attention with their fashion. “Before, I wouldn’t spend real money on clothes, and still today I don’t really,” says Zizou Bergs, a Belgian who has a cheeky social-media presence and a clear love for fashion. Thanks to his Golden Goose ambassadorship, he rocked a leather jacket over a Miami Heat jersey for the city’s Masters1000 tournament, embracing the street style he loves while making it feel a little more elite. In Indian Wells, he wore a matching Golden Goose denim set with vintage Oakley sunglasses, going for a sporty-chic look favored by those not even into tennis at all. He was the best-dressed guy of the bunch, as fellow tennis player Reilly Opelka admitted in the comments section: “I’m usually one to troll, but @zizoubergs looks smooth.” “In the end,” Bergs adds, “you need to rock the outfit. If not, you’re gonna see it.”
Surely Opelka won’t be the only one giving the men their sartorial flowers in the coming months. White thinks “everybody’s keeping up with the times. The best on tour in my opinion [are] Lorenzo Musetti, Carlos Alcaraz, and Andrey Rublev.” The Challengers craze of 2024 had everyone up in arms to nab a polo shirt or pleated skirt, but now, with the backing of luxury brands and a veteran menswear expert in their corner, there’s room to play: Swap out their sweatsuits for, say, an Hermès suit as seen on Frances Tiafoe at the Miami Open, or wear streetwear-inspired looks that give them street cred and a way to flex their if-you-know-you-know fashion moments. More than just looking good, Dawodu sums up the stylistic efforts best: “I want to achieve comfort. I want to enhance and push the players to be as stylish as they feel comfortable. I want them to look fly,” he says. “I think that there should be more light on tennis, period.”