Australian Open

Nadal joins tennis' revealing shorts brigade

Mark Hodgkinson

January 19, 2015

Rafael Nadal has caused a stir in the world of tennis fashion with his new gear in Melbourne © Getty Images

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There was once a time when Rafa Nadal, in his three-quarter-length capri pants, looked as though he had just walked off a Majorcan beach.

Nadal's new get-up marks a remarkable departure from his shorts in 2008, when he won Wimbledon for the first time © PA Photos

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Now, with his short shorts (some would say too-short shorts), it looks as though he has just stepped out of the 1980s. Not quite Lendlesque perhaps, but getting there.

While Andy Murray has a new clothing supplier, and Roger Federer has Anna Wintour (the editor-in-chief of American Vogue, the inspiration for The Devil Wears Prada, and a style adviser to the Swiss), it's Nadal's retro fashion sense that will keep tennis's chattering classes in conversation at Melbourne Park and beyond.

Nadal's opening match at the Australian Open was his first match at the grand slams since Wimbledon, after last season was interrupted by a wrist injury and appendicitis, but perhaps his victory over Russia's Mikhail Youzhny was loaded with further significance - was the Spaniard's tailoring a sign that tiny shorts are making a comeback in men's tennis?

John McEnroe was also known for his short shorts © PA Photos

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"Is it just me," Caroline Wozniacki wondered aloud, "or are Nadal's shorts getting shorter and shorter?" But that wasn't just in the Dane's imagination and maybe soon it won't just be Nadal whose hemline is heading the way of the shorts worn in the 1980s by the likes of John McEnroe, when the only things that were shorter were the tempers.

You have to seriously consider the possibility that Nike, who produced the shorts for Nadal, will soon have others wearing them, too (though that number won't include Federer).

It's easy to snigger at tight tennis shorts - Andy Murray once observed that the shorts from the 1980s didn't leave much to the imagination, and he couldn't see them coming back into fashion. But we shall see.

... as were Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg ... © PA Photos

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Perhaps the length of Nadal's shorts at the opening grand slam of the year is simply a continuation of what has happened throughout his career.

When he first bounded on to the scene, his shorts weren't far off a pair of trousers, stopping halfway up his calves. And with every year that he has spent on the tour, it seems that his shorts have got shorter and shorter. From clam-diggers to these.

It was Annabel Croft who once observed that those tiny men's shorts from the 1980s "looked extremely uncomfortable". And yet Nadal, who throughout his career has been picking at his pants between points, has been saying that the shorter shorts have added to his comfort levels - as well as keeping him "fresher".

"To make the shorts shorter is something I like. I feel more comfortable this way," Nadal said. "We made it shorter already last year and this year a little bit more. I feel more comfortable here, more fresh."

Ivan Lendl liked a revealing pair of shorts, too © Getty Images

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The length of Nadal's shorts wasn't all that was remarked upon. The pink trim was never going to go unnoticed.

"These are the shorts that I was wearing for parties in the last couple of months," Nadal observed. "I like the bright colours.

"Australia is a happy country, a sporting country and the people bring the very positive energy so this is the right place to wear them."

The last time that a pair of shorts generated this much conversation? When Andre Agassi wore a stone-washed pair, and started a tennis fashion revolution. What will Nadal achieve with his party shorts?