Julian X
Hugo Boss polo shirt. You’d see Ballesteros in
his blue Slazenger v-neck. I thought I wanted
one and went out and bought one. The golf
was definitely secondary to tennis, but tennis
attire really took on a whole new phase in the
way people dressed.
It wasn’t uncommon to see people walking
down the road in a full FILA Borg outfit and a
pair of Diadora Borg Elite sneakers, yet they’d
never picked up a tennis racquet in their life.
So, it’s kind of that nostalgic thing for people
who are collectors. You have people who’ll
only collect Diadora, or only collect the Borg
models. I’m particularly drawn to the 1980s
tennis models from adidas.
What are some of the key tennis pieces
from that era?
With Ivan Lendl, every couple of years, the
designs changed. He had the geometric dia-
monds, then he had “The Face,” and then
another set after that. He had multiple col-
lections. I’m not sure how many collections
Edberg had. So, if you look through magazines
88 | Classic Kicks | classickicks.com | Volume 2
and catalogs from the 1980s, you’ll see there
was a whole range. Not just shoes, but tops,
shorts, track tops and track suit bottoms, and
racquets. He had dozens of racquets named
after him, in different price ranges. Someone,
somewhere, obviously realized this was a new
era with this tennis fashion. When you start to
see kids wearing it all over Europe, and all over
the world, well then why not do a new series
every couple of years to keep it fresh? Take
advantage of the market.
I think those are the years I watched a lot of
tennis, specifically Wimbledon. I always tuned
into Wimbledon as a kid. This was 1982, 1983,
1984, and onwards. I think seeing the likes of
Borg. He was always one of my favorite tennis
players. I’d always watch McEnroe because I
was always waiting for something to happen,
whether he shouted at the umpire or some-
thing. I guess it was just seeing those players
walk onto the court, and they just looked al-
most regal in the way they were dressed. It was
just flawless. So, that period to me represents
the era that I’m most familiar with. 1981-1982