Fashion faults from the 2020 Australian Open

With the style winners of this decade's first foray into Grand Slam fashion under our belts, we get to the business of the faux pas of the lot. Here are the 2020 Australian Open wardrobe woes:

It was Donna Vekic who was truly seeing red, holding her seeding in their opening-round showdown, but Maria Sharapova was the one wearing the color. She actually summoned to mind her 2007 US Open dress, in a not-too-distant shade of "atomic" red. Sure, Sharapova has played a lot of majors over the years, but this one-piece seemed an uninspired retread. And then it was gone.

Suffering a two-tiebreak loss to miss the second week of a major again, Karolina Pliskova wasn't feeling it in her Fila kits, which didn't photograph well and were a collective bore.

This is not what you bedeck the No. 2 player in the world in for the season's first Slam.

Not even the Anna Wintour–blessed Grigor Dimitrov could save this Nike top from looking a bit messy mid-match. That says something, given his swag-y demeanor and general affability about attire.

Nick Kyrgios might have sought to differentiate himself from Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, and others among Nike's bank of endorsers by wearing an orange polo, but it ended up clashing with Melbourne designer's Cassie Byrnes' print on the shorts. Sometimes too many options befall an otherwise good style opportunity.

Oh, how this reviewer wanted and tried to like this look. Madison Keys, Petra Kvitova, Vekic, and others wore the dress, skort, and other variations of this pastel-inflected print that, in the end, served to remind of a couple West Elm duvet options (one and two).

Ellesse did no favors to Johanna Konta by outfitting her in a continuation of her underwhelming 2019 US Open kit. The underarm chevon-esque pattern under predominant white was boring then, and it's truly boring now. What happened to the brand that gave Monica Puig so many great fashion moments?

Tennis Sandgren, sporting Letour these days, didn't appear the two-years-on version of a 2018 Aussie Open quarterfinalist. His kit was far too blase for his personality and history Down Under.

You're probably thinking that you didn't find the likes of standard-bearers Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in either story. And you would be correct. That's because their kits were just a bit too, well, standardized.

When professional and personal brands such as those gents become a uniform of sorts, it no longer calls for commentary. It's predictable, middle-of-the-round stuff this Slam—and we all look forward to better the rest of this year. And better could even mean an homage or two. Darth Federer? Capris and tank-tops? We would welcome either. Given all the versatility in their racquet-wielding repertoires, their closets deserve the same.

Style perspectives can be subjective, and you, dear reader, may be clotheshorse who doesn't think these fashion aces and faults came through seamlessly. If so, tweet me at @jonscott9 and let's talk textiles. And to all, enjoy the rest of this Australian Open.