16 / 104
tennis & golf
by
Julie Richie
14
|
APRIL 2017
|
INNOVATE
Y
ou can thank 1920s-era tennis
champion René Lacoste for
sparking the movement toward
comfortable athletic apparel. During his
1926 win at the United States National
Championship, he wore a short-sleeve
starched white button-down shirt
instead of a long-sleeve shirt—“a daring
evolutionary step toward an archetype
of sportswear,” according to contributing
writer Troy Patterson in his 2015
New
York Times
article “Unstarched Shirt.”
Lacoste had reportedly been inspired
by a posh friend who played polo in a
similar shirt.
In 1932, Bunny Austin, an English
tennis player who for 74 years was
the last Briton to reach the final of the
gentlemen’s singles at Wimbledon until
Andy Murray did it in 2012, decided
that heavy white flannel trousers were
just too darn hot to play in. So he
bravely wore shorts at Wimbledon—
Match
Point
While sporting
these country
club fashions,
every competitor
can serve and
swing with style.