Fashion has taken a front seat in tennis in recent years and particularly at this year’s Wimbledon Championships. Maria Sharapova made the front page of Yahoo! when she announced she would be wearing shorts for the first time in a Slam (and $5000 diamond and platinum earrings from Tiffany’s) and her conqueror Alla Kudryavtseva drew more attention for her post-match comments regarding Maria’s outfit than for upsetting the third seed.
But one fashion story that has managed—until now—to fly under the radar is the partnership of Venus Williams and Nadia Petrova.
Petrova has actually been wearing some of Venus’ fashion creations from her clothing line, “EleVen.”
Talk about an odd combination. Petrova, the 18th-ranked Russian on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, was previously sponsored by Adidas before switching to Airness, the same company which endorses countryman Nikolay Davydenko.
At the recent tournament in Eastbourne, however, Petrova was not wearing any recognizable label, a sign that she is currently unattached to an apparel company.
During a press conference in London, Williams confirmed that the Russian would be wearing clothing from her line at Wimbledon during her “transition” between potential sponsors, hinting that the arrangement is a temporary one and noting that Petrova was “doing me a favor."
“She's a great girl. I have a lot of respect for her on and off the court. She's a good person.”
Williams debuted her fashion line last fall, becoming the first woman athlete to design, produce, and market her own line of apparel. As defending champion, she was first up on famed Centre Court at Wimbledon and made an entrance wearing a runway-inspired creation, a twisted halter top dress with a “V” monogram on the center chest.