At a height of 6’4”, his perennial mustache and that iconic smile, Stan Smith looked more as retired coach on the sideline, a guise Smith happily served up till he steps onto the tennis court. As formidable as he was in the 70s, when the Wimbledon and U.S. Open champ racked up 54 titles during his professional career, along with the #1 world ranking position in 1972. It was also the year adidas approached Smith for his own signature sneaker, forever known as the Stan Smith.
Followed the blueprint of another adidas styling, the Haillet, Stan Smith (the shoe) was, and still is, a simple fare of premium white leather with green accents on the logo patch and heel tab, as if not to upset the stringent dress code of Wimbledon. One other feature, or the lack of, are the adidas 3 stripes. Instead, 3 rows of perforation take its place along the sidewall.
adidas Originals created 2 videos to celebrate the man, his shoes, and most of all, his accomplishments.
This story by wil6ka was published on the Lomography website on January, 2009.
This Summer a long time dream of me came true – at least superficially;) I was always a tennis-crack in my teenage years, spent more time on the court than anywhere else. Back in the days I worshiped Boris Becker and imagined being a pro and playing in Wimbledon. Well, the story turned otherwise – but I played last Tuesday for the first time in six years, afterward my ass was aching – but this is another story.
Anyways, I was in London this Summer and totally accidentally the Wimbledon Tournament was happening at the same time. So decision was easily made to go there. The thing was, during the day I had to work and I could only show up with friends in the early evening. And once we got there by tube we found out, that is a quite a challenge to get in. A queue of maybe 10 km was exposing itself (and I am not exaggerating). I heard about the passion of the english lining up in queues, but this was too much. But what can you do? we lined up and we gut a brochure, how the rules of lining up are…Isn’t that amazing?
The were selling merch with the message “I was queuing up in Wimbledon” and strawberries with whip-cream. After two hours we made it inside and smelled the air of history. Unluckily most of the stars had packed their stuff and enjoyed their “Feierabend” in their whirlpools. But I was there: I queued up for Wimbledon.
(more…)
Via Nike Tennis facebook page: Some marathons are run, others are fought. Congratulations John Isner.
Congrats to John Isner and Nicolas Mahut, two true champions. I hope some french football players watched some bits of this match, it should inspire them.
Tumblr
