Tennis Fashion Fix: US Open 2013 – Maria Sharapova

The U.S. Open is finally here! That means lots of tennis on TV in a time zone that actually works for me.

When one of the Slams rolls around, I always like to take a good look at what the pros are wearing since I know that is what will be available for me to shop for when I’m picking out tennis gear. And one of the first pros I usually profile is Maria Sharapova for two reasons:

1. Her outfits are always fashion forward, often in a good way (and sometimes in a not-so-good way).

2. Maria is one of those players who is just as likely to get knocked out in the first round as she is to win the whole thing.

So Maria is first up on my list for the 2013 U.S. Open. And thank goodness she is – because she’s already out. That’s right – Maria Sharapova withdrew from this year’s U.S. Open because of ongoing shoulder problems. Specifically, “bursitis.” I don’t know much about bursitis but it sounds like something my grandmother used to complain about.

Regardless, Maria was all geared up for the U.S. Open with some super cute outfits from Nike. Despite her withdrawal, this stuff will still be heavily featured wherever you shop for your tennis apparel so let’s take a look at what she would have worn had she played.

Maria’s Day Look

For her daytime look, Maria was going to wear the the Nike Women’s Premier Maria Dress in Atomic Pink with Dark Armory Blue accents. At first glance, the dress style seems pretty ho-hum. But when you see it up close (as I recently did), you’ll notice several great details – there are lots of laser cut perforations at the sides and down the back for ventilation. And the perforated side panels are a little bit gauzy and twirly. This would have been a great dress to see it action. The color is way more peachy than it is pink, but I think this color would look fabulous on most skin tones. To go along with her dress, Maria would have worn the Nike Women’s Zoom Vapor 9 Tour Tennis Shoes in pink and gray. These are super colorful and are the exact right shade of peach to go with the dress. Honestly, I love this look. I’m a big fan of peachy pink. It’s too bad we won’t see Maria at the U.S. Open showing this off:

Maria’s Night Look

As much as I love Maria’s day look, I ADORE the night dress. This is the Nike Women’s Premier Maria Print Tennis Dress in black and white with atomic pink reflective tape accents at the waist. The fabric on this one is very light and airy without being see-through. If you look at the hemline of the dress, you’ll see a print of the New York skyline – love it! Like the day dress, this one is fitted but still twirly enough to give a lot of motion when in action. And – bonus – it comes with a pair of black ball shorts. Cute, but I would have preferred shorts in the atomic pink color. Here’s a look at Maria’s night dress:

I got to see both of these dresses, the shoes, and all of the other pieces that Maria would have worn when I took a tour of Tennis Express last week. I recently entered into an affiliate relationship with Tennis Express which means I make a little bit of money if any of my TF followers buy something by clicking on one of the links here on my website (like the links in this post or in the sidebar). But really, I was so excited when Tennis Express approached me to do this! I pretty much buy all of my stuff there because the staff knows tennis and knows their merchandise and they have anything and everything a tennis fanatic could want. Plus it’s a family-owned business and my daughter went to summer camp with the owner’s granddaughter. So that’s a very tenuous – but still worthwhile – connection for me.

Last week, Tiffany took me on a tour and I not only saw what the players will be wearing at the U.S. Open, but I saw a lot of other great gear that hasn’t even made it to the Tennis Express sales floor yet. And I saw the video studio where many of the Tennis Express YouTube videos are shot. In fact, here’s a link to Tiffany’s YouTube video showing just what Maria was going to wear to the U.S. Open – Tennis Express-US Open Gear Guide for Maria Sharapova.

While I’m sorry that we won’t be seeing Maria at the U.S. Open, I’m glad her gear is out there. And, don’t worry, there’s still plenty of good looks that you’ll see on players who aren’t suffering from bursitis. I’ll have more fashion reviews this week so stay tuned. Happy Tennis!