Ultra-bright, neon hues of yellow, pink and orange are "exploding all over the courts" at the U.S. Open, with players "decked out in outfits down to the socks and shoelaces that make a screaming, flashbulb-like" fashion statement, according to James Martinez of AP. Player Jack Sock said of his all-fluorescent yellow kit, "It's a very cool outfit. ... Loud audiences and loud matches go along with the loud outfits." The neon trend has "been building for years and harkens back" to the '90s. Nike in particular is "taking it mainstream this year, with well over a dozen players in the men's and women's draws decked out from head to toe in bright yellow, with black and pink accents that only serve to make the color seem brighter." Rafael Nadal "stands apart from his Nike comrades in a relatively staid black outfit, but the soles of his feet are festooned in ultra-bright yellow." Canadian Milos Raonic was "resigned to go with the fashion flow" and has neon pink New Balance shoes (AP, 9/1).
BACK IN BLACK: FORBES' Allen St. John noted at the top levels of tennis, players who are "designing an autograph model will often experiment with prototype rackets where the graphics haven’t been finalized." In all of these instances, players will often "play with rackets called 'blackouts' that feature a matte black finish and little else in the way of graphics." Roger Federer, who has spent years "developing various rackets for Wilson, has seen plenty of these blackout frames." And in developing graphics for the latest generation of the Pro Staff 97 RF racket over the last 18 months, Federer "convinced the brand’s marketing team that sometimes less is more." Wilson Racket Sports Global Marketing Dir Kyle Schlegel said, "Roger did play with a blacked out racket for a while and we saw the reaction on social media." Federer said his new Federer Autograph racket "features minimalist black on black graphic–reminiscent of a tuxedo." St. John noted it has a "chance to become a trendsetter on looks alone." Schlegel: "There’s almost a competition to see which racket can be the loudest, wild graphics upon wild graphics" (FORBES.com, 8/31).
