Why were Sampras' Nike clothes sooooo ugly????

pabletion

pabletion

Hall of Fame
Was watching that classic Federer-Sampras Wimbledon match and wonder why o why were Sampras' clothes so ugly, if not ugly then definitely DULL as can be... In that particular match, Federer had a cool looking white Nike polo, not flashy at all, wouldve bee great for Pete to play on.
But instead he had a fugly weekend dad golf-looking polo..... was it....... BECAUSE of Pete? Did he almost always have an input on his Nike collection?

It just seemed he chose khakhi and weird gray-greens way too often......

Why did this happen?????
 
pabletion said:
Was watching that classic Federer-Sampras Wimbledon match and wonder why o why were Sampras' clothes so ugly, if not ugly then definitely DULL as can be... In that particular match, Federer had a cool looking white Nike polo, not flashy at all, wouldve bee great for Pete to play on.
But instead he had a fugly weekend dad golf-looking polo..... was it....... BECAUSE of Pete? Did he almost always have an input on his Nike collection?

It just seemed he chose khakhi and weird gray-greens way too often......

Why did this happen?????
Click to expand...
Back then Sampras and Agassi had their own collection, more so Agassi. Nike had their designs of what they would wear for each season (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) Also, they knew Sampras wasn’t a flashy guy and liked that traditional, clean cut, preppy look. He rather let his racquet do the talking than his clothes. #imageisnoteverything
 
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pabletion said:
Was watching that classic Federer-Sampras Wimbledon match and wonder why o why were Sampras' clothes so ugly, if not ugly then definitely DULL as can be... In that particular match, Federer had a cool looking white Nike polo, not flashy at all, wouldve bee great for Pete to play on.
But instead he had a fugly weekend dad golf-looking polo..... was it....... BECAUSE of Pete? Did he almost always have an input on his Nike collection?

It just seemed he chose khakhi and weird gray-greens way too often......

Why did this happen?????
Click to expand...
I honestly thought it made a good contrast between Nike’s stars at the time. You had the rockstar and the... jazz at the time? It’s the same how Nada decided to wear sleeveless 05-08 and Fed wore polos, it showed Nadal was a little more raw and energetic and Federer was more reserved and relaxed. Plus polos were almost everything everybody wore then.
 
The Sampras look was the not cool dad golfing on the weekend.

The 90's were an variable time of tennis fashion. Some good stuff, some pretty meh stuff. Actually, that goes for the 90's as a whole, not just tennis fashion. There was Nirvana, but there was also Limp Bizkit and Savage Garden and Hootie and the Blowfish. Sampras had a lot of outfits that were Hootie level meh.
 
socallefty said:
The problem was that Sampras alway wore his clothes really baggy and loose-fitting and it never looked like it fit him properly - maybe he wanted to be an OG. Don’t know if his rapping skills were like Ice-T or Shapovalov!
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His one hander was light years better than Shapo’s. You want a one hander that doesn’t showboat and gets the job done in a beautiful but subdued manner? Shapo won’t be giving me any lessons anytime soon.
 
Crazy Finn said:
The Sampras look was the not cool dad golfing on the weekend.

The 90's were an variable time of tennis fashion. Some good stuff, some pretty meh stuff. Actually, that goes for the 90's as a whole, not just tennis fashion. There was Nirvana, but there was also Limp Bizkit and Savage Garden and Hootie and the Blowfish. Sampras had a lot of outfits that were Hootie level meh.
Click to expand...

I loved Savage Garden. I think the rest are terrible.

I also liked Sampras' classic style.
 
Even Jim Courier line was better. Sampras deserved a better looking clothing line, but I think Nike executives had their own agenda here, playing the Agassi/Sampras feud at all cost
 
What do you mean ugly?

pete-sampras-usa-03-april-1996-HXCR9B.jpg


I'll have you know Nike made an amazing blank polo + striped skirt combination here!
 
You hush! Sampras dressed with the subtlety of a dude who would quietly come trash you in beer league 6-1, 6-0 and refrain from talking smack. Class is not the right word... but restraint (compared to Agassi's Nike and modern Nike)

White and grey/blue... a pop on the collar. Oscillates would complete this picture. 100/100

pete-sampras-at-the-1990-us-open-tennis-BD44EB.jpg
 
Rosstour said:
lol I think you are overrating Pete's bh by a lot. The way his shoulders pop up during the follow through is not what you wanna do.
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No, I’m saying anything is better than Shapovalov’s backhand.
 
mpournaras said:
You hush! Sampras dressed with the subtlety of a dude who would quietly come trash you in beer league 6-1, 6-0 and refrain from talking smack. Class is not the right word... but restraint (compared to Agassi's Nike and modern Nike)

White and grey/blue... a pop on the collar. Oscillates would complete this picture. 100/100

pete-sampras-at-the-1990-us-open-tennis-BD44EB.jpg
Click to expand...
1995
 
I feel like Nike didn't make a lot of money off of sampras. He was guy who always wore white polo tops and occasionally striped or lightly colored bottoms. Also, he wasn't all that marketable or charismatic
 
Huge missed opportunity for Nike IMO. With all those marketing $$ you can absolute create an image for a player... even if the player isn't the most animated. You don't need a jimmy connors type personality to sell product.
 
For the top 3 Nike endorsements in the 90’s between Sampras, Agassi and Courier, they were categorized in 3 distinctive categories:
Preppy, Rebel, and Athletics. Sounds just like cliques/groupies in school. Lol
 
David Le said:
For the top 3 Nike endorsements in the 90’s between Sampras, Agassi and Courier, they were categorized in 3 distinctive categories:
Preppy, Rebel, and Athletics. Sounds just like cliques/groupies in school. Lol
Click to expand...
who’s gonna be the nerd?
 
Look at Tiger Woods in the 90s. His nike clothes were big and baggy.

18946231.jpg


What he wears now fits him much better which I think looks nicer/classier.

ed072b994747ba3c66dce41c911668e4
 
Dan007 said:
I feel like Nike didn't make a lot of money off of sampras. He was guy who always wore white polo tops and occasionally striped or lightly colored bottoms. Also, he wasn't all that marketable or charismatic
Click to expand...
But i remember awhile than Sampras was paid like 8 or 9 millions $ per year by Nike. So how it's possible?
 
www.sportsbusinessdaily.com

After Parting With Nike, Sampras Optimistic About His Future

Pete Sampras, "insulted by Nike's multimillion, multiyear renewal offer," contacted Nike CEO Phil Knight "to debate the deal but did little to coax an improved offer," according to Andrea Leand of USA TODAY. Sampras had "also threatened to leave" his management group, AMG, "but acquiesced after...
www.sportsbusinessdaily.com www.sportsbusinessdaily.com

nike tried to lowball sampras in his new contract during his last year...
very different than how they treated agassi and i think sampras resented that...
 
Frylock said:
But i remember awhile than Sampras was paid like 8 or 9 millions $ per year by Nike. So how it's possible?
Click to expand...

If they did, they def took a big loss. If he was getting paid that kind of money in the 90's or early 2000's its ludacrous. You sure he was getting paid that much?
 
Dan007 said:
If they did, they def took a big loss. If he was getting paid that kind of money in the 90's or early 2000's its ludacrous. You sure he was getting paid that much?
Click to expand...
I don't found anymore the article who talk of that. I exaggerated but i saw his nike deal was 15 millions $ for multiple years not per year. For agassi it's much more.
 
Dan007 said:
If they did, they def took a big loss. If he was getting paid that kind of money in the 90's or early 2000's its ludacrous. You sure he was getting paid that much?
Click to expand...
It's surprise for me too. Sampras won 40 million in prize money. But he won like more than 100 millions out of court. And nike give him lot of money in the 90's.
 
big ted said:
www.sportsbusinessdaily.com

After Parting With Nike, Sampras Optimistic About His Future

Pete Sampras, "insulted by Nike's multimillion, multiyear renewal offer," contacted Nike CEO Phil Knight "to debate the deal but did little to coax an improved offer," according to Andrea Leand of USA TODAY. Sampras had "also threatened to leave" his management group, AMG, "but acquiesced after...
www.sportsbusinessdaily.com www.sportsbusinessdaily.com

nike tried to lowball sampras in his new contract during his last year...
very different than how they treated agassi and i think sampras resented that...
Click to expand...

Sort of like what they did to Fed in favor of Rafa.
 
pabletion said:
Was watching that classic Federer-Sampras Wimbledon match and wonder why o why were Sampras' clothes so ugly, if not ugly then definitely DULL as can be... In that particular match, Federer had a cool looking white Nike polo, not flashy at all, wouldve bee great for Pete to play on.
But instead he had a fugly weekend dad golf-looking polo..... was it....... BECAUSE of Pete? Did he almost always have an input on his Nike collection?

It just seemed he chose khakhi and weird gray-greens way too often......

Why did this happen?????
Click to expand...
Funny you say ugly. I was watching Sampras matches from U.S. Open 94 and matches from 95. I loved those kits. It was the beginning of the Nike court logo and loved his outfits. 94-95 I think was the peak. Then for the most part it was mostly white, except for 1996 and beginning of 1997.
 
big ted said:
www.sportsbusinessdaily.com

After Parting With Nike, Sampras Optimistic About His Future

Pete Sampras, "insulted by Nike's multimillion, multiyear renewal offer," contacted Nike CEO Phil Knight "to debate the deal but did little to coax an improved offer," according to Andrea Leand of USA TODAY. Sampras had "also threatened to leave" his management group, AMG, "but acquiesced after...
www.sportsbusinessdaily.com www.sportsbusinessdaily.com

nike tried to lowball sampras in his new contract during his last year...
very different than how they treated agassi and i think sampras resented that...
Click to expand...
Oh I remember that and him wearing US flag over the Nike logo at AO 2002 (but later was back with the swoosh). Basically his contract had expired and dispute was over the amount of money Nike wanted to invest in him to renew his contract. From rumors of the time, Phil Knight himself stepped into the dispute and resolved it all..pistol retired at the USO that year wearing the Nike logo..

 
Pistol Pete said:
Funny you say ugly. I was watching Sampras matches from U.S. Open 94 and matches from 95. I loved those kits. It was the beginning of the Nike court logo and loved his outfits. 94-95 I think was the peak. Then for the most part it was mostly white, except for 1996 and beginning of 1997.
Click to expand...

Agree. I always wondered how much control Pete had over the gear he wore. Not as in designing it, but being able to say "I'm not going to wear that" if it was something that didn't suit his style. There was a consistent dress sense through most of his career with Nike. He always looked comfortable in what he wore. Even some of the crazier patterned shorts that he wore retained a sense of casual refinement and self-effacement by using less saturated colour palettes.
 
TearTheRoofOff said:
Courier's jacket also looking decidedly chunk, itself.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I will allow for some period relevant extravagance (including fit). However Agassi's jeans shorts were the worst ever piece of sports apparel imaginable seen on court. It is the equivalent of a player stepping on court with Lilac/Rosa Timberland boots. An absolute disaster.

8-)
 
I don't remember Sampras' clothes being particularly ugly or particularly great looking. The only thing I even remember is the baggy shorts and when he had his small-pattern plaid shorts. Everything else seemed fairly neutral - especially considering the era. Edberg of all people had a couple outfits I really didn't like. They weren't super crazy like Agassi, yet when I see them today I sort of "ugh."
 
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