It’s not quite to the point where it’s going to “Protect This Court,” but sports apparel giant, Under Armour, is gradually creeping into tennis. The company made smaller inroads in years past by clothing players like Robby Ginepri and Sloane Stephens,but made a big splash last season by signing Andy Murray. No word yet if/when the manufacturer goes all-in with a tennis-specific retail shoe—they design special models for Murray and Stephens—as for now it’s all about clothes and accessories.One of the latter is their Game Day sunglasses specifically designed for ball sports.
There are several options in the line, with three models in particular the company is recommending for tennis: Igniter 2.0 ($90), Fire ($100), and Core 2.0 ($105). All three are constructed with extremely light Armour Fushion frames, built from a combination of titanium and Grilamid. The ArmourSight lens technology, designed by sports optics manufacturer ZEISS, is intended to deliver more undistorted peripheral vision and are up to 10x stronger than ordinary polycarbonate lenses. AllUA performance eyewear lenses block 100% of UVA, UVB, and UVC rays.
I opted to try the UA Igniter 2.0 model. I find spacious lenses, bulbous nosepads and thick arms to be distracting, so I went with the seemingly least intrusive model. The lenses still managed to blanket my entire field of vision, preventing any disarming blasts of unadulterated sunlight out of the corners. It was also exceptionally light and provided a comfortable fit as I hardly noticed their presence on the bridge of my nose or above my ears. One of the intended benefits of the Game Day lens is making the background brighter, which was not necessary with the electric blue PalmSprings sky. However, the ball did noticeably pop when positioned against duller backdrops such as the windscreen.
On the downside, I did manage to scratch the polycarbonate lenses. I forgot that the glasses were wrapped around my hat, and when I took the lid off the frames took a dive on the hard court. The scuffs are minor and the glasses still more than functional, but it didn’t take much to cause the damage. I do find this to be a common pitfall of most sports sunglasses, however.
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