It was in the first round of last year’s Davis Cup by BNP Paribas competition that Jim Courier made his debut as captain of the USA team. It was a hot weekend in Santiago, Chile, and Jimmy had many doing a double...
It was in the first round of last year’s Davis Cup by BNP Paribas competition that Jim Courier made his debut as captain of the USA team. It was a hot weekend in Santiago, Chile, and Jimmy had many doing a double take when he walked on court with his players wearing dress slacks, dress shoes and a white polo shirt.
Interestingly, and I didn’t know this till later, Courier was in fact breaking Davis Cup rules by not wearing the same gear as the rest of the team, ie: the team tracksuit.
For someone who wears a shirt and tie whenever I am working a tournament (yes even at the ones held at resort cities like the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California), I thought this was quite a departure and really cool, especially when I saw Courier at the next tie which was in Austin, Texas, last July. There he had gone the whole way and wore a full suit. He looked sharp and it set him apart.
Nothing has been said to stop him wearing the gear and it helps with the fact that he is wearing Hugo Boss which is the official clothing of the Davis Cup.
Courier made the point at the very beginning that he was not comfortable wearing the tennis kit because it was not as if he was going out there to suddenly start playing. The managers and coaches at other team sports wear suits, so why not in tennis?
The only other coach I remember seeing doing this was a guy named Mike Estep when he was coach to Martina Navratilova.
There is an element of authority that also needed to be conveyed.
This weekend in Fribourg, Switzerland, the suit is very much front and centre again and in my opinion he looks great.
What do you think? All you style icons out there, pass your opinion on the threads. Do you think: A) wearing a suit or dress slacks and a polo shirt should be the trend for a Davis Cup captain or B) they should be allowed to decide what they want to do or C) the team uniform should be enforced on the captain to wear just as it is with the players?
When he first started donning the suit for Davis Cup I asked him if he was choosing what he was wearing. He said with a laugh that there was only one stylist in his household and that is very much his lovely wife.
It brings another element of panache to the world’s biggest annual team sporting event.
