Sporting Glamour

I’m looking at a picture of Maria Sharapova in her little red dress and I’m amazed. I’m no fan of tennis, but I think this is probably the most glamourous sport around for women. How many other sports have generated pin-up girls the likes of Maria Sharapova and Anna Kournikova and how many women in sport dress as fashionably on and off court? I mean a sports person’s talent should not get second billing to what she is going to wear on court. I’m referring to the famous Nike red dress with glittering bits down the front. I initially thought they were diamonds sewn on, but it turns out that they are actually swarovski crystals. Still pricey.

But the point I’m getting at is that sponsors find it worth their while making a fuss over fashion on the tennis courts ever since the relaxation of the all white rule because these players are seen all over the world. We ooh and ahh over Maria in her little red glittery dress getting sweaty during her games, and previously during the reign of the Williams sisters, we had one of them (I can never tell them apart) in a slinky black shiny form fitting catsuit. Jewelry houses fall over themselves to present diamond tennis bracelets costing thousands of dollars to these players to wear on court. Can you imagine wearing $200,000-00 worth of diamonds on your wrist while you swing your racket to win maybe $200,000-00 prize money?

Never mind that the players may not win matches – see Anna Kournikova. Looks sell everywhere and sport is no different. In fact, Louis Vuitton’s latest campaign uses 2 of tennis’ most famous players – Andre Agassi and his wife Steffi Graf.

So the moral of the story: let your kid swing that tennis racket but groom them well too. If you don’t end up with a Maria Sharapova, you might still get an Anna Kournikova. After all, we all know that its the advertising and sponsorship deals that brings home the bacon, not the prize money.