For tennis legend Serena Williams, fashion has always been more than just attire; it was, as she put it, “a fun way for me to express myself on the court.” Her bold choices, drawing inspiration from figure skating with tutus and sheer sleeves, and pushing boundaries with catsuits and animal prints, consistently turned heads. On the men’s side, Andre Agassi similarly used the court as a stage for his unique style, his mullets, bandanas, headbands, and vibrant outfits becoming iconic. Reflecting on his on-court fashion, Agassi once stated, “I think you should have the freedom to express what you feel. Wearing colors is what tennis needs.” Over his illustrious 20-year career, Agassi sported numerous memorable looks, but which three stand out as his personal favorites?
On Wednesday, Agassi shared a video clip on his Instagram account. When asked to pick his top three most iconic on-court looks, he kept his “pirate look” from the 1995 AO at #3. While sharing his thoughts on that look, he stated, “Top three favorite looks in my career: 1995 Australian Open, it’s kind of referred to as the ‘Pirate Look.’ Baggy shorts, baggy shirt, bandana, hoop earring, goatee, it was like Pirates of the Caribbean kind of stuff.”
Interesting Fact: Andre Agassi sported what many dubbed a “pirate look” when he won the 1995 Australian Open. In that final, he triumphed over the defending champion Pete Sampras in four sets: 4–6, 6–1, 7–6, 6–4. This victory marked Agassi’s first Australian Open title and his third Grand Slam overall. Interestingly, it was also his debut appearance at the Australian Open.
Then, #2, he picked his jean shorts—today known by their portmanteau “jorts.” Explaining that look, he added, “Then I would have to probably shift to the original jean shorts. Tennis hadn’t quite seen somebody wearing anything but white with their shirts tucked in.”
After that, when it came to filling to #1, he said, “Number one, probably the hot lava spandex under the denim shorts. That thing’s pretty cool, especially with the shoes that went with it.” Well, there’s an interesting tidbit attached to this outfit!
Back in 2016, Andre Agassi recalled how his vibrant on-court attire ruffled feathers within the tennis establishment to the point that organizers at the French Open even considered implementing strict uniform regulations akin to Wimbledon’s all-white policy.
“At the time, the president of the French federation was like thinking of bringing in a dress code. You know, I did what any noble person would do and I called him a bozo at the press conference. That was a little bit regrettable but it was an honest reaction to somebody telling you what I had to wear,” Agassi recalled in the recent video.
Andre Agassi was often a topic of debate because of his distinctive fashion choices. However, the tennis star never let others’ opinions affect his fashion statements on the court. There’s a 1995 L.A. Times article that even called him an “accidental icon” and a “fashion savant.” And his reaction?
While reacting to this statement in an interview, he said, “Wow [laughs], that’s kind of a backhanded compliment. But everything I did in 1995 was an accident. I was very accident-prone. I stumbled into one hell of a life. So, I think that it was a fair comment. A lot of people at the time thought I was expressing myself, but I was really exploring myself.“
Do you know that even Devon Burt, Nike’s creative director at the time, once described one of the Agassi-designed Nike collections as “ugly“? Responding to that, he had said, “The goal was never to be ugly in my mind…I was always clear. I was anti-establishment for a long time, which morphed into other perspectives.”
When Agassi came to the sport, it was very rigid and confined as it related to how one should be and dress. For Agassi, “It seemed like a perfect canvas to disturb the peace.” Does he see fashion as a connector? “It’s a vehicle. I don’t know if it’s the thermostat or the barometer. Sometimes we can use it to set the temperature, and sometimes fashion can reflect the temperature.”
Despite facing all the criticisms of his funky nature, what does his wife Steffi Graf have to say about all these?
Steffi Graf admitted that Andre Agassi’s fashion sense was way ahead of its time
In August 2024, Andre Agassi took his fans on a nostalgic journey through his iconic on-court fashion choices over the years. During that time, he revealed his favorite shoe, i.e. the Nike Air Flare, which he wore during the 1994 US Open. “My favorite shoe I think I ever wore, and it could be distorted because I won the Open in them, was the black tongue ones where I wore the black socks.”
Then after that, he also expressed his love for his famous denim shorts by saying, “I don’t know how they would look if I had jean shorts, but if we’re breaking into categories, I would say shorts, 100% jeans. I mean, when I put those on, I just felt like, I felt better than I did before I put them on. I just went, okay, it’s time for me to play now, right? I associated them with rebellion, with expanding the game, changing the game, not from a healthy place necessarily, more from my kind of psyche and demons, but the shorts I would go there.“
Talking about these particular denim shorts, even his present wife Steffi Graf was also a big fan of these jorts. Speaking about Agassi’s unique choices, Graf once said, “Andre was totally ahead of his time with the jorts. I loved them. I thought that was the coolest thing out there. I mean, you know I love fashion and seeing the boundaries pushed and something so innovative, I thought it was super cool.”
Agassi’s fashion choices were not just personal but resonated with those around him, and this was just a prime example of such. What’s your favorite look of Andre Agassi?
The post “That Was a Little Bit Regrettable,” American ATP Giant Andre Agassi Handpicks His Top Three Iconic On-Court Fits appeared first on EssentiallySports.
