30 Days of Tennis Challenge – Day 17: Favorite women’s outfit

For the great part of the people, tennis fans or not, outfits are simply… outfits. When a designer, in the headquarters of Nike, Adidas, Lacoste, etc., sit in his/her room and start drawing sketches, the biggest intention there is selling, making revenue for the company.

Well, it may be true. But sometimes the child of this fashion intercourse becomes more than only a piece of apparel. Sometimes it fails you hard – like the ’09 pink shirt Nadal wore at Roland Garros – or sometimes, in case of the ladies, brings to places you’ve never been before. It’s like a gift card on a MMORPG. Pure magic.

 

No further explanation needed

Just like the chosen one here. Designed by an undisclosed Nike employee, to whom I would appreciate just saying ‘thank you’, the Victoria Azarenka’s white dress, or simply The Almighty White Dress was there when Vika peaked in the 2011 and rose to set new career highs in consecutive.

She was wearing the blue headband when she beat Kim in Key Biscayne – same Key Biscayne event that saw her obliterating Vera Zvonareva and then getting rid of Sharapova en route to the title. Coincidence? Nop. Dress.

Vika then started her European swing in Marbella, claiming five more wins en route to the title. By then, she had won a career-best 9 or 10 consecutive matches. On to Madrid, Azarenka steamrolled through the early rounds, dropping only five games until the quarterfinals. In case you still want clarifications, she was sporting the white kit there too.

Unfortunately, Victoria lost in the finals to Kvitova, who put an end to the magic. I’m not sure the Belarus-born player had still her gown (wedding gown. She was getting married to victories) on when retired against Sharapova in Rome, but the fact is, Nike tried an alternative version – purple and black – for Roland Garros. Way too gothic, was stopped by other Nike-girl, Li Na, in the quarterfinals.

And in case you still have doubts about the quality of the Dress, I recommend you to check this post I wrote, breaking down Sabine Lisicki’s recent success at the Birmingham tournament. And pay attention to the last phrase of the aforementioned article: “Well done, Nike. I hadn’t seen a single dress inflict so much damage since the Monica Lewinsky days”. Or something like.

 

Useful:

Prologue and explanation

Day 1 – Favorite men’s player

Day 2 – Favorite women’s player

Day 3 – Favorite doubles team

Day 4 – Least favorite men’s player

Day 5 – Least favorite women’s player

Day 6 – Most memorable match

Day 7 – First player you became a fan of

Day 8 – Earliest tennis memory

Day 9 – Favorite retired men’s player

Day 10 – Favorite retired women’s player

Day 11 – A player nobody would expect you to love

Day 12 – A player that you aren’t a fan of but you respect

Day 13 – Favorite Grand Slam tournament

Day 14 – Favorite non-Slam tournament

Day 15 – Most attractive women’s player

Day 16 – Most attractive men’s player