Yellow (Sunshine) on the Tennis Clothes at the Australian Open
When one thinks of the Australian Open, one thinks of bright sunshine beating down on the players. There is sun at many outdoor tennis tournaments around the world, but none as strong as the sun during the Australian summer down under! This year, the major tennis clothing brands, i.e. Nike and adidas, have also chosen to feature bright yellow prominently
in the designs worn by some of their players. For example, 2009 U.S. Open Champion, Argentine, Juan Martin del Potro, wore a bright yellow sleeveless Nike top, 2008 French Open champion, Ana Ivanovic, wore a yellow adidas dress and Maria Kirilenko, who defeated Maria Sharapova in the first round, wore a yellow adidas tank top.
Over the years, there has been some debate regarding whether tennis players should be allowed to wear yellow tennis clothing because it is often hard for the opponent to see the yellow tennis ball “against” the yellow clothing. Nonetheless, there is no rule against yellow attire and clearly bright yellow is a color of the season! The other surprise about the choice of a bright color such as yellow for the players under the usually scorching Australian sun is that bright colors attract/retain more heat. Clearly, this does not seem to concern the players or clothing manufacturers who also continue to attire players in dark blue and black outfits even for daytime matches! Traditional “tennis whites” are definitely a distant memory…
Over the years, there has been some debate regarding whether tennis players should be allowed to wear yellow tennis clothing because it is often hard for the opponent to see the yellow tennis ball “against” the yellow clothing. Nonetheless, there is no rule against yellow attire and clearly bright yellow is a color of the season! The other surprise about the choice of a bright color such as yellow for the players under the usually scorching Australian sun is that bright colors attract/retain more heat. Clearly, this does not seem to concern the players or clothing manufacturers who also continue to attire players in dark blue and black outfits even for daytime matches! Traditional “tennis whites” are definitely a distant memory…
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