FASHION FIX: Andy Roddick Signature Collection polos by Lacoste

Andy Roddick did more than throw a temper tantrum, kill Babolat and launch a ball into the stands during his short stay in Cincinnati this week. He fell out of the Top 20 with the loss, too. Ouch.

Oh wait. This post is supposed to be about fashion. Right.

The former top baller debuted a new polo from his Andy Roddick Signature Collection with Lacoste. Check it out, plus two other styles I really love, after the jump.

Celebrating 40 years of Lacoste at Roland Garros

I wanted to give props to Lacoste for the 40 years of sponsoring one of the best tourneys on the planet, Roland Garros. Of course, I needed to start with the great kits they gave their lady ballers this year (love the boys, too, but I showed my appreciation already), in this case Sam Stosur + Alize Cornet, and the outfits for the chair umpires and line judges:

The French sportswear brand has also dedicated a section of their website to mark this milestone:

It features a fun video highlighting their heritage, the 2011 Roland Garros Collection and a special edition polo and t-shirt for men and women celebrating the partnership:

Each piece showcases a triple logo: the iconic crocodile, the Roland Garros trophy and the official RG logo.

So, if you get the chance check it out!

[Photo(s): Getty Images, AFP PHOTO / MIGUEL MEDINA]

FASHION FIX: Raonic rocks the color blocks

Milos Raonic fell to Croat Ivan Dodig in Barcelona today and even went pointless in the first set tiebreak before falling 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-3. I'd say that's a pretty shocking stat for someone with Milos' serving prowess.

But all wasn't so bad considering what the Canadian was wearing in the match. Milos was working the Lacoste Boys Color Block Polo ($55) in white (alternate version in ocean blue).

Yes, I said 'boys' - strange, eh? I did a further search for a men's version but nothing came up. Anyway, I think it's super cute and the color blocking is fun and perfect for spring. The design is still in keeping with Milos' classic stylings but adds that pop of freshness. There's even a jacket in the same style but, please, DO NOT wear them together. I'm begging.

[Photo(s): Reuters, MidwestSports.com]

Hayden hits Parisian red clay for Lacoste ad campaign

Star Wars actor and tennis freak Hayden Christiansen is starring in the new ad campaign for Lacoste's latest men's fragrance Lacoste Challenge which was shot at the Tennis Club de Paris near Roland Garros. Hayden was joined on-court by tennis legend Mats Wilander for the shoot.


The fragrance's bottle features a tennis racquet design while the cologne is colored yellow to represent a tennis ball.

Images of the bottle and another from the ad campaign below!



(image via Lacoste, kennethinthe212)

JD's hard work paying off, takes on new sponsorships including Lacoste

Although she had been working Fila as recently as Indian Wells, Jelena Dokic has officially signed on with Lacoste. The Aussie baller wore the new gear during her brief stint in Miami where she lost to Caroline Wozniacki in the second round.

Her new deal with the French brand is estimated to be potentially close to $4.4 million over three years. JD's also now being represented by IMG, has entered into a lucrative arrangement with Aussie budget airliner Jetstar, and will be renegotiating her deal with Wilson.

After toiling in tennis oblivion for year, I bet it feels really good to have these types of sponsorships back. The hard work is paying off. Let's hope, though, JD gets some rest. Her recent results, including an early loss to Jill Craybas at Indian Wells and the Wozzi one in Miami, have been pretty shaky.

But at least she's looking good in those new Lacoste duds now!

(via women's tennis blog)

FASHION FIX: Dominika goes down in Moscow, but Lacoste style hits high

Diminutive Dominika Cibulkova, who was spotted getting double teamed in Red Square, had her trip to Moscow cut short (no pun intended, I swear!). The Slovak was bundled out of the tourney's quarterfinals today by Vera Zvonareva 7-5, 6-4.

I'm liking these new Lacoste duds Dominika is working here. The polka-dot graphic design on the polo adds some nice pop but I really love the skirt. The periwinkle blue is fresh, the striped waist band looks inspired by preppy grosgrain ribbon belts, and the front features functional pockets outlined with white piping.

Sporty, cute, and fun - everything you need in great tennis fashion.

(images via Getty)

FASHION FIX: Cornet feeling confident in game, looking confident in Lacoste

Alize Cornet is a lady in waiting. France's new teen queen had her match with Argentina's Gisela Dulko suspended due to darkness with the match tied at 3-all in the third set.

And even though she's only 18-years old Alize has made the cover of France's biggest sports mag L'Equipe this week and told the publication she knows her time at Roland Garros will come...maybe not this year but soon:

Roland Garros is winnable for me one day, but not this year. Mentally and physically, it's too soon to be able to manage a tournament like this for an 18-year-old, but I'm learning. Why not next year, or in two years? I can wait five years, 10 years, 20 years -- the important thing is to win it someday. That would be incredible.

It doesn't sound like Alize is lacking in confidence and it shows in her fashion too. She's working a youthful, flirty outfit by Lacoste which showcases her natural exuberance. And even though Gisela is wearing a similar outfit in their match, Alize's accents of red put her over. A winner for sure.

(images via Getty + AP)

VIDEO VAULT: What will tennis look like in 2083? Lacoste has a (brilliant) idea...

Lacoste is taking us back to the future.

The sportswear brand is continuing its 75th anniversary celebrations with the launch of a new website called Lacoste Future featuring vintage clips of the legendary baller Rene Lacoste playing old-school and a viral video showcasing their vision of tennis in 2083, another 75 years later.

It looks to be a mix of tennis, TRON, and jai-alai with full body armor - a masterpiece:

Lacoste-future
by lacoste-future

(image capture via lacoste-future.com)

SIGHTING: A-Rod models, autographs and plays Wii at Bloomingdale's in NYC

As I mentioned yesterday, Andy Roddick made his way back to New York City to make a personal appearance at the Lacoste store and Bloomingdale's in Midtown to help the iconic brand celebrate its 75th Anniversary. In honor of the celebration, 10 percent of Lacoste store and Bloomindale's sales yesterday were donated to The Andy Roddick Foundation.


A-Rod took some time for modeling, autographs and some Wii Tennis action with some lucky fans. But one question A-Rod: what's up with the hairy situation on your face?

And, if you haven't checked out the Lacoste site recently, take a peek. The brand now has a Lacoste Sport section featuring interviews + anecdotes with their tennis ballers including A-Rod in "On the Rod", Tatiana Golovin in "Tatiana's World", A-Rod + Tatiana in "Grass Memories", A-Rod + Richard Gasquet in "Clay Memories", and all three in "Hard Court". Good stuff.

(image via wireimage.com, msnbc.com, jezebel.com)

PHOTO OP: A-Rod goes retro with Lacoste, meets fans (+ girlfriend) in NYC

Andy Roddick, looking clean-cut + dapper here in vintage tennis whites, will be in NYC today to host a meet-and-greet with his loyal fans at the Lacoste store in Midtown.

The recent Dubai titlist must also be visiting his model girlfriend, Brooklyn Decker, who lives here and who may have been the catalyst for A-Rod's breakup with coach Jimmy Connors. Can you say Yoko Ono?

(image via andyroddick.com)

FASHION FIX: Chris Guccione channels A-Rod, A-Rod works Lacoste

Double-take: During our daily perusal through the tennis image banks, we quickly glanced at these photos and thought "Andy Roddick?" But, no, it's Andy 2.0 - the Reebok wearing, big serving Chris Guccione. The Aussie captured a big win at the Medibank International today, defeating countryman Lleyton Hewitt in two tie-break sets 7-6 (4) 7-6 (2) and giving him some much needed confidence before next week's Australian Open.

Speaking of A-Rod, the defending champion at the Kooyong Classic won his first match at the tournament defeating Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-0. He, of course, left sponsor Reebok for Frenchie sportswear label Lacoste a few years ago.

The American No. 1 busted out some new Lacoste duds this week which we are liking for him. The white + grey combo with red accents is refreshing - plus, he opted out of the scary shorty-short movement of his fellow Lacoste lads.

We are grateful for small favors...

(images via AP Photo/Rob Griffith & Getty)

FASHION FIX: The men are gettin' leggy with Lacoste

Gettin' leggy with it: We've recently written about our disappointment in the continuation of the shorty-short trend on the WTA Tour this season. Well, the women aren't the only culprits. The men of Lacoste - more specifically Frenchies Fabrice Santoro & Sebastien Grosjean - were spotted showing a little too much tennis leg at this week's Medibank International in Sydney.

We already raved about the Lacoste ladies' high fashion marks this season, but the shorty-shorts on their men need to go. We're fine with the overall classic look, but we prefer to live in the now and not the 1970's (even John McEnroe looks in pain wearing those shorts.)

Someone help these men!

(images via DAVID HANCOCK/AFP/Getty Images & GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty Images)

FASHION FIX: The ladies of Lacoste return, and so does the brand

Resurrected: Two ladies of Lacoste, Pocahontas wannabe Tatiana Golovin and Argentine Gisela Dulko, have returned at the Hopman Cup and, by the looks of things, so has the brand. When reminiscing about last season's Lacoste tennis duds, one word comes to mind: loungewear. We also remember some unfortunate polka-dots.

Anyway, this season the Frenchwear label has gone the more classic route of polo shirts with skirts while managing to keep the looks feminine with long, deep plackets on the tops and flirty fabrics on bottom. Nice start for ladies' Lacoste, we think.

(images via AP Photo)

+ WEDNESDAY NETCORDS: Venus, Justine, Igor, Roger vs. Pete...Tommy talks racquets, Davis Cup doodles and more

- Tommy time: When Tommy Haas isn't battling foes on the tennis court or crying "poison!", the German star hangs with girlfriend Sarah Foster and Kate Hudson, plays basketball with Xavier Malisse and Taylor Dent, and stays clear of suicidal tennis racquets. According to a recent Q & A with DEUCE magazine, he rarely breaks tennis strings but "[n]ormally if a string breaks it's at 3 in the morning and it scares the hell out of me. I string my racquets tight so they can break by themselves in my racquet bag. It's loud enough to wake me up, which is annoying, so I usually try to put the bag in a corner of the room."

- Davis Cup doodles: Captain Patrick McEnroe has found his own voice, even in the shadow of his legendary loud-mouth brother, John...the four amigos of the US Davis Cup team genuinely enjoy each other's camaraderie, which they believe should help them bring home the trophy...no Safin surprise for the US. "These guys [on the Russian Davis Cup team] are playing better than Marat, he's not going to be here," says Russian coach Shamil Tarpishchev...Tennis Served Fresh finds the Bryan Brothers Blogging

- Did Roger Federer throw Pete Sampras a bone in the final match in their exhibition tour? Tennis-X thinks so. Is Sampras a current day top-5 player? Federer thinks so.

- The notoriously private Justine Henin has in fact been providing us a version of her own reality TV show, argues Tennis Diary. Nina Rota writes, "Tennis has been the substitute for some of Justine’s life outside of tennis and now that the outside world is creeping back into her life, her tennis is secure enough that it enhances her game. Most people need their personal lives in order to perform well in their career. Some people do it the other way around. Success in their career gives them the confidence to open their hearts to those in their personal lives. Justine doesn’t need a reality TV show, we’ve been watching it all along." Interesting perspective, we think.

- Kamakshi Tandon for TENNIS.com believes players should be given unlimited challenges per match. We don't agree - limited challenges force players to strategize about how and when to use them, which we think adds more excitement and intrigue in a match. Discussss...

- Lacoste and innovators Kidrobot have released their holiday collaboration featuring 3 styles - Missouri 85, and the Revan 2 & 3 - each complete with your own PEECOL toy. But move fast: only 500 pairs total were produced.

- Black Enterprise magazine named Venus Williams one of America's Most Powerful Players Under 40. We're thinking they don't mean tennis when they reference 'players'...

- Getting to know Igor Andreev. Funniest moment: "Well, once when I was 17 I went to practice with Kournikova, me and another guy (Pavel Ivanov), in Miami, tournament before the Orange Bowl. It was Sunshine Cup. We were making sparring to her and when we were at the volley, she hit the ball so hard — and it close to hit my balls so... So that happens, but, it was very close, fun moment. I don't know if it's fun but for me it wasn't fun but for them it was fun [smiles]."

- Tennis Planet holds the blueprint for Novak Djokovic's quest for World No. 1.

FASHION FIX: Lacoste loungewear dooms Gisela Dulko in Linz

Gisela Dulko became the latest player to support clothing sponsor Lacoste's unfortunate loungewear moment from this summer. We like the Lacoste brand but we've never hidden our dislike for these pajama-style get-ups they've had their female tennis players wear.

The loungewear may have had an unfortunate effect on the Argentinian, though. Seemingly sleepwalking through her match against Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in the Generali Ladies Linz today, Gisela was slammed 6-3, 6-1. The Lacoste gear will come in handy now since she'll be getting more rest than she was hoping for this week.

(images via AP Photo)

+ WEDNESDAY NETCORDS: Justine, Andy, Lindsay, Billie and Elton...Pete vs. Andre, match-fixing update and more

(image courtesy of J R E Y)

- On top of the world: A huge "congrats!" to World No. 1 Justine Henin for clinching the year-end No. 1 ranking (for the third time in her illustrious career) and winning the United States Sports Academy’s Female Athlete of the Month for September. Plus, she's an astonishing 54-4 this season.

- All bets are off? The tennis gods are gathering in London this Friday to hash out all this match-fixing business. In addition Tennis Diary has reported that players' cell phones may be banned from the locker rooms to avoid inside information from leaking to betters. And, Hall-of-Famer Pam Shriver has some choice words for those prone to betting. Can it be stopped? Stay tuned...

- New chief in town: Arlen Kantarian has been newly named CEO, Professional Tennis for the USTA. What does this mean exactly? As part of his new duties, Arlen will oversee the development of a new USTA elite player development program, focused on identifying and developing the next generation of American champions. He will still lead the USTA's Professional Tennis operations, and serve as the lead executive overseeing the USTA's involvement in the professional sport, including the US Open, US Open Series, USTA Pro Tour events, U.S. Davis Cup, Fed Cup, and Olympic teams, and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

- Music superstar Sir Elton John and long-time friend Billie Jean King will host the 15th annual Advanta WTT Smash Hits, a special night of tennis featuring superstars including Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport and Anna Kournikova. The event, which benefits the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the local charity ActionAIDS, will be held in Philadelphia on Oct. 10. Visit Ticketmaster to purchase tickets to this event and to support AIDS research and charities.

- Getting to know: Stefan Koubek

- If it ain't broke...: In the "What were they thinking?" file, the ATP announced it's 2009 schedule to include the new format of giving tournaments ranking points to determine they're importance (1000 = Master Series level, 500 = Tier II). Is that even correct? We're confused just writing about it...oy...

- Think pink: Daily Racquet has been supporting October's Breast Cancer Awareness month by posting on all things pink and tennis. Check it out!

- Wanna know more about the history of the Lacoste brand? Click here.

- Video vault: Reminisce about the good ol' days of tennis with this great, classic Nike commercial featuring legends Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi playing an improptu set of tennis in a New York City intersection.

INSTANT REPLAY: a look back at this week's top tennis plays

COURTSIDE

India's girl has style
Venus blogs and eats tongue
Separated at birth?
Australia gets the blues
Players party in Japan
Where in the world is Serena and how is she looking?
Stefan gets the boot
The year according to Lacoste

Anna works a bikini

+ NETCORDS

WEDNESDAY: Rafa, Andy, Pete vs. Roger...ATP gets dumped, Serbia's rise and more

FASHION FIX: Lacoste's up n' down year and Tatiana's tangerine dream

We think Frenchie fashion label Lacoste has been very hit-or-miss this year. The hits? The men's tennis gear, most recently with Fabrice Santoro's super cute candy-striped polo matched with white shorts for the US Open. The misses? The women's on-court fashion with the latest being Tatiana Golovin's "tangerine dream" for this week's Porshce Tennis Grand Prix - or dare we say nightmare?


Of course, we must put a fair amount of the blame on the players themselves. Tati just went overboard wearing the same orange color for both the top and skirt, similar to Marat Safin and his adidas "haz-mat" outfit.

We keep saying it but the tours could use a full-time stylist - any takers?

FASHION FIX: Fabrice Santoro goes the distance in Lacoste

Frenchie Fabrice Santoro put up the good fight last night against American James Blake in a thrilling 5-setter at the US Open. Incidentally, this is the first time James has won a 5-setter in his career (the monkey is finally off his back.)

We couldn't help but fall hard for Fabrice's multi-striped polo shirt by sponsor Lacoste. So cute and colorful (in a good way!) Unfortunately the shirt is not available since it's from a past collection, according to TSF. What a tease...

FASHION FIX: More Lacoste from the US Open, the men rock real tennis fashion

Now, this is more like it. Lacoste didn't completely miss the fashion train at this year's US Open. The French sportswear label, though, seems to have saved the best for their male players at this Grand Slam. We are loving the smart use of color and the fact that this clothing looks like tennis gear, and acts like tennis gear.

Exhibit A: Andy Roddick, Exhibit B: Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Exhibit C: Arnaud Clement