Wimbledon
Well, besides perhaps polo and sailing, tennis is probably one of the preppiest sports out there, so with the Wimbledon Championships going on until July 6th, I thought I would talk about it. A classic tournament, part of the Grand Slam, it is particularly preppy due to the grass courts. I have never played on grass, but I hear, its a very interesting experience. Before I talk about Wimbledon, I should say that I have only played tennis for a few years, but it is a sport I am very passionate about.
One qualm I have though, is the amount of time and money that must be invested. With other sports, like basketball example, it is easy to just get a hoop, and practice freethrows or shoot around with your friends. However tennis requires expensive clothes, rackets being restrung, and nearly always a membership at a club, in addition to court fees. And that’s just to have fun with friends, or practice. First you must take dozens of $75 an hour lessons, to either fix your backhand or unlearn some bad habit with your stroke or serve. It is a sport that requires appointments and commitment just to practice and play.
Once one gets around this though, and begins to improve, it can be very rewarding. When the ball goes over just perfectly, or you ace a serve, it is quite gratifying. On the other hand it is an enormously frustrating sport when you make mistakes, as every shot’s fate is decided by you. In team sports you feel like you can blame others as well as yourself for loses or mistakes, but with singles tennis its all on you. That’s what I love about tennis; every shot can be decided by you, and comebacks from being down, are particularly exciting.
But I digress. This year, the Wimbledon Championships are as exciting as ever, and as preppy as ever. Since 2006 Ralph Lauren has provided the uniforms for the officials and ball boys, and I think they did a terrific job. For an event with such tradition as Wimbledon, to invite an American Fashion house to freshen up and change the uniforms was a big move, but it certainly paid off ($10 million dollars to be exact…).
Although they are about two years old, these uniforms are a real breath of fresh air from the old green ones that they used to have. Ralph Lauren did an excellent job of keeping a very prestigious English feel to the uniforms, especially with the thick white lines, and sharp collars. I can’t quite remember how the old green uniforms used to be since its been a few years, but I imagine it must get very hot in those blazers at times. Luckily its only about 70 degrees and breezy today.
While the line judges and officials are busy being preppy in their Ralph Lauren Blazers, the players themselves are in a way preppy as well. Whether its Nadal always in his signature capris, or Federer and others who are always in Men’s Vogue and GQ, tennis is a sport that is also in some way about fashion.
Like all sports with high entry prices, although one can play in normal clothes, few choose to do so. Take snowboarding for example. Who would have thought that kids and adults who were thought of as punks and slackers would have cared so much about how they look when they ride, but they do. Yes, most choose not to match their clothes, but many snowboarders spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on new 59fifty hats, oakley goggles, or new cargo board pants. With tennis it is all about not only playing well, but having a good collared tennis shirt to play in as well as other expensive clothes and equipment. While wearing capris like Nadal isn’t exactly preppy, the fact that men and women alike often care about what they wear while playing is interesting. Wearing nice clothes won’t make you a better tennis player, but you’ll feel better than you would in regular gym clothes.
The third preppy part of Wimbledon and tennis in general is the preppiness of the crowd. Although tickets are just as expensive as any sporting event, Wimbledon always attracts people to dress up. Similar to events like The America’s Cup, and The Triple Crown races, most people dress up in their finest summer attire to watch the matches.
As you can see from this shot, the crowd is a sea of pastel colors and expensive polos and button-down shirts. You can also see the old green uniform on the guy behind Federer. Although I have never been to Wimbledon myself, living in a preppy town with many tennis enthusiats I know a few people who got the chance to go, and of course they dressed up for the matches. Although I have not gone to Wimbledon I have been to both England and Ireland multiple times, and it seems like dressing up for events like this is somewhat common. In America sure, people will dress up to go to a basketball game maybe or something like that, but over there events have a different feel. Horse races are not just for the very rich, as many of my working class cousins often dressed up and went to races. I think this should be more prevalent in the US. Wearing your favorite player’s shirt is great for going to a game; when there’s a sea of red in the stadium for a Red Sox game, or a sea of green or white for the Celtics (Sorry I live in MA…) its uplifting for a team or fan to see. But all too often people spend copious amounts of money on tickets and look like they are just dressed to do errands or something. If you’re going to spend $100+ for tickets for a few hours, and you’re not going to wear a jersey or shirt to support the team, for goodness sake, throw on a collared shirt or something.
So while I have no chance whatsoever of being good enough at tennis to play at Wimbledon, at least someday I hope to dress the part and experience the tradition that is the Championships. Here’s to good tennis…