Viewers of the splashy new U.S. Open mixed doubles championship taking place this week will see teams comprising some of tennis’s most recognizable stars: Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu; Taylor Fritz and Elena Rybakina; Frances Tiafoe and Madison Keys. They will also see familiar athletic brands.
Mr. Alcaraz, Ms. Keys and Ms. Raducanu are all paid to wear the Nike swoosh. Mr. Fritz has an apparel contract with Hugo Boss, Ms. Rybakina with Yonex and Mr. Tiafoe with Lululemon. Ben Shelton, the young American tennis star who is also in the competition, is sponsored by On.
His mixed-doubles partner, Taylor Townsend, recently became the No. 1 women’s doubles player in the world. But many people may not recognize the logo she is wearing.
Ms. Townsend, 29, has been playing without an official clothing sponsor since 2017, when her contract with Nike lapsed. This year, those closely following her on-court appearances might have noticed her in garments with an interlocking TT, the logo for a namesake apparel brand she has been developing.
After eight years of playing in clothes bought off the rack and without a sponsorship, Ms. Townsend decided “to do my own thing,” as she put it in an interview. She has enlisted the help of Talton Alexander-John Ballard, 45, a designer outside Atlanta who goes by Alexander-John, and who has worked with New Balance and Puma. “Similar to how Q works with James Bond — that’s how I feel to Taylor,” he said.
Ms. Townsend showcased her TT logo at this year’s French Open and Wimbledon tournaments. Using a heat-transfer process, Alexander-John affixed it to her store-bought dresses and long-sleeved tops to create customized gear. “That’s her Frankenstein collection,” he said jokingly. “We took what she had at the time and kind of pieced some things together.”
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The post She’s Serving New Clothes at the U.S. Open appeared first on New York Times.
