Postcard from the Italian Open
Postcard from the Italian Open
Postcard from the Italian Open
Legendary German photographic duo Lotterman & Fuentes take on Roma.
Legendary German photographic duo Lotterman & Fuentes take on Roma.
Photography by Lottermann & Fuentes
May 16, 2025
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Will She? Won't She?
Will She? Won't She?
Will She? Won't She?
Naomi Osaka is finding solace on clay this year. Now what?
Naomi Osaka is finding solace on clay this year. Now what?
By Carole Bouchard
May 14, 2025
Naomi Osaka takes flight on the red clay of Rome this week. // Getty
Naomi Osaka takes flight on the red clay of Rome this week. // Getty
Will she or won’t she? What? Come back. But she’s already back. No, but you know, at the top: Will she come back at the top? The only thing people seem to want to witness from Naomi Osaka since last year is a return to her previous level, competing for Grand Slam titles. So the less she finds a way to do it, the more dramatic the “will she, won’t she” storyline becomes. Yet, what if clay was Her Moment? Imagine!
Surprisingly, this clay season has come to Naomi Osaka’s rescue as she clinched eight wins in a row, from Saint-Malo’s final to Rome’s fourth round (a loss she called “atrocious”), on a surface she doesn’t like, doesn’t have good memories of, and never spent enough time on. Her best record on clay yet. She was sweating through three-set wins against players she surely felt she should still trounce in straight sets like she did back in the day. Who would have predicted that after a first-round loss in Madrid? Yes, she could be a dark horse at Roland-Garros, no doubt, and also, yes, she could suffer an early exit. The uncertainty cloud around her is less thick, but it has still not fully cleared.
Osaka’s case reminds us how tennis is fascinated by former champions returning to the sport after going through it. People love a fairy tale of winning against all odds, the “rising from the ashes” storyline. We were all glued to Michael Jordan’s journey in The Last Dance, and we’ve been spoiled throughout the years in tennis with it happening repeatedly, from Andre Agassi to Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, Thomas Muster, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, or Maria Sharapova post–shoulder surgery. Some forgot it’s not a given. Ask Andy Murray!
Still, nothing like a champion turning mortal before becoming a superhero again to renew fans’ interest. It’s even stronger for Naomi Osaka as you can feel the not-so-subtle “Please, Naomi, come back” vibe. The fans, the sponsors, the media, and the tour all want to see more of one of the most bankable players in tennis. It’s not just for the feels: The tennis business needs her. And so Osaka’s only option seems to be this incredible comeback following pregnancy and injuries to the top of the mountain again.
And she’s trying so very hard. Osaka tried so much that she hurt her back during the Asian swing last year. And this year so much so that she got an abdominal injury that not only cost her a title in Auckland but also a deep run at the Australian Open. She was hitting the ball like the former world No. 1 she is and moving the best I had seen her move in ages. But she broke, and it killed all her momentum. It also kills what Osaka needs the most but struggles to keep: her confidence. She told me in Madrid she loved how Patrick Mouratoglou was helping her build her confidence again, as she tends to be “too insecure.” That’s what puzzles people about Naomi Osaka: how she can be an extremely ambitious woman building an empire on and off the court, yet someone who doubts so much.
Naomi Osaka had planned the start of 2025 to be her moment, yet it ended in an emotional blow. That’s why, to me, her clay season so far has been admirable. Think about it. Naomi Osaka is now asked to rise from her ashes through the tennis stretch she dislikes the most: clay season to grass season. Awful timing, right? Maybe not. Last year, she played a blockbuster at Roland-Garros against Iga Swiatek in the second round, so couldn’t she build on that again a year later?
When I saw her in Madrid, she said that instead of going straight on clay after Miami, she had a whole block of preparation for clay at the Mouratoglou Academy in the South of France. I paused. Naomi Osaka prepared for clay season?! Color me impressed. But she still lost in the first round in Spain against Lucia Bronzetti, whom she barely beat last year in the first round in Paris. Then what? Rome and Roland-Garros? Did she go through all that for two events?
Osaka was livid, ranting on Threads, “Trust the process, but the process isn’t trusting me wtf. I wouldn’t wish what goes on in my brain to my worst enemy.” And so she did what champions do and also triggered her fairy-tale-waiting-for-happy-ending storyline again: Cinderella forgot about the castle, the prince, and the cute glass shoes and got down a few notches. Naomi Osaka needed matches and some wins, so she put her ego aside and discovered the beautiful city of Saint-Malo in France and its WTA 125 world. Andre Agassi going through the Challengers to build his return type of vibe. The amount of “omg wow, Osaka back to WTA 125 level, this is so brave” takes I’ve read… Everything for a good narrative and drama!
Nobody can say Naomi Osaka isn’t trying, or doubt she wants to get back to the top. Why? She was down 4–1 in the second round against Diane Parry in the third set of a WTA 125 in a city she probably didn’t even know existed before landing in it. She has all the millions she can dream of in the bank, a successful production company, a daughter she doesn’t see as much as she’d love to because of tennis, and some serious emotional troubles tied to tennis. She could have been on a private jet to the beach real quick to forget about it all. But no, she fought her way back into that match and ended up winning the tournament.
Naomi Osaka won her first title on clay, her first title in four years, in 2025 in Saint-Malo, a WTA 125. Plot twist! That’s what her tennis and confidence needed. And so the narrative machine got back on track again: “Will she now?” The thing is that the word “nearly” has become a big part of Naomi Osaka’s return story. She nearly got Swiatek at Roland-Garros last year. She nearly won the title in Auckland. She was near a deep run at the Australian Open. Naomi Osaka is still so close, and yet somehow so far. Close to her best level? Absolutely. To dominating the sport again? Not sure about that. But the main thing is that she wants to try. That’s what this clay season is showing us: Naomi Osaka is still up for the fight.
The Hopper
—CLAY Tennis on Beatriz Haddad Maia’s US Open run.
—Giri on Iga Swiatek’s loss to Jess Pegula.
—Jon Wertheim’s mailbag is full this week.
—Sara Errani and Andrea Vavasori have won the US Open mixed doubles.
—Tim Newcomb on Taylor Fritz and Asics.
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It Started in Italy
It Started in Italy
It Started in Italy
Diadora USA head Bryan Poerner talks about bringing the brand’s made-in-Italy program to the tennis court, with its all-new B. Elite Star.
Diadora USA head Bryan Poerner talks about bringing the brand’s made-in-Italy program to the tennis court, with its all-new B. Elite Star.
By Tim Newcomb
May 13, 2025
Images courtesy of Diadora
Images courtesy of Diadora
Diadora boasts a rich Italian heritage, one full of nostalgia, history, and made-in-Italy designs, going back to the company’s birth in 1948. Not one to live in the past, though, Diadora has brought its made-in-Italy program to the tennis court, crafting the all-new B. Elite Star at the brand’s Italy headquarters and manufacturing facility in Caerano di San Marco. The new on-court offering joins made-in-Italy models for off court, such as the B. Elite and B.560.
The Second Serve’s Tim Newcomb chatted with Bryan Poerner, president and CEO of Diadora USA, on why the made-in-Italy program is important to the family-owned brand, and what makes it unique in the world of tennis.
Why is the made-in-Italy program important to Diadora?
We’ve always done it in soccer and reintroduced it in running three or four years ago. This is our first tennis introduction. The thing that is interesting about what we do is this is not a commercialization strategy of “Let’s sell the most stuff.” Yes, we are competitive and want to sell, but this is more about “How do we actually build the best things?” There are lots of ways to approach this, scientifically and with labs, which we have, but we started thinking that if we want to have this process to come up with the best court shoe—sketching it out, building the compound, stitching it, testing it, adjusting it, testing it again—if we can do that in our home, where designers, the lab, and factory are within 100 meters of each other, there is something there you can’t replace.
It is not a commercial option to have all our shoes built this way, but it is a celebration of how we develop our shoes. It is a celebration of Italian craft, but also what the Diadora design process is.
What is the made-in-Italy B. Elite Star?
The B. Elite Star is a new shoe we developed, and it is the first made-in-Italy technical tennis shoe that we have done in 30 or 40 years. It pays homage to the Bjorn Borg B. Elite, but only in design reference. We paid homage to it but wanted to push the boundaries and made sure it was a badass technical, playable shoe. The B. Elite is one of the most celebrated shoes in our history, so we started from that design language and were figuring out how to modernize. It was really fun.
What makes the B. Elite Star unique?
When people see it, they say, “Oh, it is beautiful.” Because we took this design language from the B. Elite, it is one of the gnarliest all-court shoes that has ever been developed. We just said we are going to build the best hard-court shoe possible, and it wasn’t about reaching a price point. The [midsole] compound we use, the production value of the raw materials, it is the anima—Italian for “soul,” so it has a double entendre—of the shoe but also what makes the shoe special. There is a responsiveness around that. It is 30 percent more responsive with 30 percent more bounce back from impact to return than the next competitive set of shoes. And even with that performance, we got it down to a little more than 12 ounces with all the best materials and a good level of durability. I’m really proud of it. We don’t just make stuff; we try to make the best thing. Made-in-Italy is our best representation.
Will we see the made-in-Italy program expand in performance tennis?
I would love it to, but I don’t know. With the tariff situation, with capacity, with demand, we will see. The demand for our made-in-Italy running product keeps growing, but then it comes down to the actual capacity to build shoes. Do we invest in more factories around Caerano? This is not a mass-production thing. We want all these details to be felt. There are a lot of factors involved, but I will say that the way we have developed shoes for the last 50 years will stay the same.
What are the lifestyle models of the made-in-Italy tennis program we’ve seen?
These are replicas of Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker, Jennifer Capriati, anyone who played in our shoes. Select models of their shoes we still manufacture like we did 30 to 40 years ago. We do small runs for boutiques all around the world. These are one-for-one replicas and are nods to the past.
How does Diadora’s history help it in the tennis space?
The reason I came here in the first place is it is the most amazing brand. It is a family company. Take all the [feats by athletes] away and it is a family company obsessed with providing high-level products to athletes. There is tremendous value in that. The people at this company obsess over the athletes, and how to serve them better is part of every decision we make. How do you give someone not only an advantage in tennis, but an advantage when playing on grass, or on wet grass, or playing doubles on grass? We don’t think about profit and loss when building footwear for Nicole [Melichar-Martinez], a doubles player of ours; we think about how to deliver the best shoe on this day.
Why is tennis important to Diadora?
It is core to what we do. We are not an every-sport brand. We do calcio [Italian for soccer], tennis, and running. Those are the sports we do, and we want to do them super, super well, so we are going to be very focused on driving the best product to market. That is a different approach than a commercialization strategy where you find the opportunities to sell the most stuff. Sometimes they are very commercial, and sometimes they are not.
How is that strategy different?
If you think about it, it is similar to Ferrari. They are thinking about building a race car. That is not a commercialization strategy. They are not building a compact $35,000 car that can maybe get you there, but it isn’t going to be the fastest, hold you the best, or corner the best. We are more concerned with this [high-performance] market, and we can live in this world. It is a different approach than most of our competitors.
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Brains and Brawn
Brains and Brawn
Brains and Brawn
Brain Dead continues to ramp up its presence in tennis, partnering with Solinco for a May 13 launch of a new-look Whiteout V2 and package design of a special edition Solinco hybrid string setup.
Brain Dead continues to ramp up its presence in tennis, partnering with Solinco for a May 13 launch of a new-look Whiteout V2 and package design of a special edition Solinco hybrid string setup.
By Tim Newcomb
May 9, 2025
Image courtesy of Brain Dead
Image courtesy of Brain Dead
Solinco and Brain Dead have launched a capsule that celebrates a 1990s acid-punk nostalgia o, with a limited-edition Solinco x Brain Dead Whiteout V2 and a prepackaged hybrid string set that gives the Hyper-G Round and new Mach-10 strings a fresh “acid chrome” finish.
Kyle Ng, Brain Dead founder, says that once he heard about Solinco on YouTube and through friends, he went out and bought a Whiteout 305. Then he bought three more, calling the frame versatile and complementary to his game. “This is a very unique project because most ‘brands’ like us who collaborate on tennis gear just do a color up, but for this collection we went deeper,” Ng says. “Not only were we able to color up the Whiteout, but we developed a new hybrid string system that I am so proud about. Being a tennis nerd and being able to make my own tennis string setup is the ultimate dream.”
On the Whiteout V2, expect plenty of additional yellow and black touches across the design—what Brain Dead calls an “acid chrome” finish—that turn the Solinco high-performance racquet into a statement piece. The Whiteout V2 is a 2025 update to the 2022, original iteration, a 98-square-inch head racquet with thinner beams, designed as a player’s stick. The new version features updated carbon fiber architecture to enhance access to easier power. The latest approach offers more effortless power with improved forgiveness and feel, all without sacrificing control.
For the strings, the capsule packaging includes the Hyper-G Round and Mach-10 for inclusion in the Whiteout V2, offering a mix of fresh colors for fans of the Los Angeles-based tennis company.
“We’re always looking for ways to push the sport forward with innovation and standout design,” says KT Kim, Solinco’s director. “Tradition is a big part of what makes tennis special, but it, at times, can also create a sense of predictability. Our collaboration with Brain Dead gave us the chance to change that. In this capsule, players will get a setup that’s just as technically sharp as anything we make, but with a new edge that’s never been seen on the court.”
The string set retails for $14, while the limited-edition racquet is $300. The Solinco x Brain Dead Whiteout V2 features the same technology as the stock frame, all enhanced with a fresh take on punk-like design.
Image courtesy of Brain Dead
Image courtesy of Brain Dead
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Postcard from Aix-en-Provence
Postcard from
Aix-en-Provence
Postcard from
Aix-en-Provence
Paris-based photographer Guillaume Tranchard checks in from Aix-en-Provence and the Open Aix Provence Crédit Agricole Challenger.
Paris-based photographer Guillaume Tranchard checks in from Aix-en-Provence and the Open Aix Provence Crédit Agricole Challenger.
Photography by Guillaume Tranchard
May 9, 2025
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Photos: adidas Originals and Brain Dead Hold Court in LA
Photos: adidas Originals and Brain Dead Hold Court in LA
Friends and family gather for the launch of the brands' new SS25 collection and interactive tennis pop up in Highland Park.
Friends and family gather for the launch of the brands' new SS25 collection and interactive tennis pop up in Highland Park.
By TSS
April 24, 2024
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Nothing Special
Nothing Special
Nothing Special
Joao Lucas Reis da Silva talks coming out and moving up.
Joao Lucas Reis da Silva talks coming out and moving up.
By Sebastián Fest
April 25, 2025
Joao Lucas Reis da Silva the Rio Open in 2024. // Getty
Joao Lucas Reis da Silva the Rio Open in 2024. // Getty
This article was produced by CLAY and has been published collaboratively. It appears on their site as well.
RIO DE JANEIRO—Joao Lucas Reis da Silva, the Brazilian who at the end of 2024 became the first player on the ATP Tour to come out as gay, is clear about one thing: It is very unlikely that he is the only one.
“I don’t know about anyone else, but I think it’s unlikely that I’m the only gay player on the tour,” said Reis during an interview with CLAY in Rio de Janeiro.
Reis, a smiling young man who is looking for a place in the tennis elite—his current ranking is 325—was 2 years old when he sat on the bed between his father and mother, took out his pacifier, and stammered “Guga” while pointing to the television.
Twenty-two years later, he again turned heads when he simply uploaded a photo with his boyfriend on Instagram.
“Happy anniversary, happy life, I love you so much,” he wrote on the social network in December, accompanying a photo in which he was seen with his partner, actor Gui Sampaio Ricardo.
Reis da Silva, who reached No. 204 in the ATP rankings at the end of 2023, has been climbing back after an injury derailed him at the end of 2024.
Men’s professional tennis does not have a history like Reis da Silva’s. Players like the American Taylor Fritz told CLAY at the time that an openly gay player would be well received by his colleagues, while the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas posited a different theory: “Maybe there are gay tennis players, but they are afraid. This is a macho sport.” (This is in stark contrast to the WTA, where there have been many openly gay players.)
In an in-depth and relaxed conversation on a humid night in Rio de Janeiro, on the sidelines of the Rio Open played in February, Reis da Silva explained that it was not and is not his intention to become a role model.
“I see that many people look at me and tell me they are proud, and that’s very good. But it’s not something I’ve sought,” said the Brazilian, who, between sentences, looked up to find himself with an unrivaled postcard view of Rio: Christ the Redeemer embracing everyone from the top of Corcovado hill.
What are your goals on court this year?
This year I want to play in the Grand Slam tournaments. Last year I came close to doing it. I almost got into the main draw at Roland-Garros, but I got injured and didn’t play for a while. I feel that my level is there, although I still have to improve some important things.
You don’t earn much money in your current ranking position. How do you finance your career? How do you manage to keep traveling and playing?
I have help from people who believe in me. And I have the support of my city, Recife, and my state, Pernambuco. I can travel with peace of mind until October this year. I hope to play in the US Open qualifiers this year and go to the Australian Open in 2026.
At what age did you start playing tennis?
At the age of 4, very young. The whole family plays. My dad, my mum… My brother played too, he played in junior tournaments in Brazil, but he stopped at an early age, at 15 or 16. I wanted to do everything my older brother did, he’s six years older than me.
As a child, who were your tennis idols?
My first idol was Tsonga. If I saw him on the TV I would drop everything to watch him. I was 8 or 9 years old and they used to call me Tsonguinha [little Tsonga]. And Rafa [Nadal] and Guga [Kuerten] were my other two idols.
You weren’t born when Kuerten won the 1997 Roland-Garros…
My mum always tells a story. I was 2 years old and my parents were in bed watching a Guga match on television. I got into bed between them, took out my pacifier, and said, “Guga.”
You posted that photo in December congratulating your boyfriend on his birthday. And you said at one point that the reactions surprised you. Why?
They surprised me very pleasantly, because the reactions were much better than I expected. I already had the support of my family, my friends, my coaches…. But there was a part of me that was a little worried. When I saw that everyone was sending me messages saying “Good for you!” and things like that, I felt really good. It was a very motivating feeling.
You were worried once you’d posted the photo, but before posting it you did it happily and almost unconsciously, didn’t you?
Yes, when I did it, I did it almost unconsciously, just because it was his birthday. And when I saw that the photo had repercussions in Europe, all over the world, I got a bit worried. And then I sat down and started to think. I told myself no, what I had done was right, that I didn’t have to hide anything from anyone else, that I had already lived that way for too long, trying to make sure that nobody knew anything. When I saw that the reactions were very good, I calmed down.
What was the most pleasant reaction, or the one that surprised you the most?
Billie Jean King wrote to me, a lot of people that I can’t remember now, a lot of likes. And a lot of people around me too, people I already knew I could count on, but who wrote me a lot of nice and kind things. And a lot of people I don’t know, but who told me they admired me. That was the biggest motivation.
Did you receive any messages from the ATP or the International Tennis Federation (ITF) authorities?
No, no, not from them.
Do you think that with that photo you uploaded in December, you can help other gay players feel more secure, more relaxed, more confident about uploading a photo like that themselves?
If that happens it would be great. I don’t know if I’m the person who should be setting an example. My life hasn’t changed that much. I have to wake up in the morning and practice at nine. Not much has changed for me. I have to do the same thing. But I see that a lot of people look at me and tell me they are proud, and that’s very good, but it’s not something I’ve sought.
Don’t you want to be an icon or a role model?
No, because I have a lot of things to worry about with my tennis and with being a better player and a better person. But, well, if people feel represented in me, that’s a very good thing. But it’s not something I want, it’s not my goal.
You said in statements to the Brazilian press that in the years when you were telling your friends that you were gay, the homophobic jokes and sexist comments in the locker rooms or on nights out began to disappear.
Yes, and I think that can happen in society as a whole, not just with my friends. It was a sudden change, things I heard that I never heard again. They might talk among themselves when I’m not there, but when I am there, the atmosphere is one of total respect. It was one of the best things I’ve ever felt. A long time ago I was someone who didn’t want to talk to anyone about it, and when I started talking, when I felt calmer about myself and started talking to my friends, to everyone, and I saw that the reaction was one of protection, of support, I felt calmer. It did me a lot of good.
In what sense?
I started to live much more relaxed, much more relaxed. My relationship with my coaches improved a lot—with my family, too. I could talk about things that I didn’t talk about before. I was 19 when I spoke, it was during the pandemic.
How did your parents take it?
For them it was a shock at first, although my mother told me, “I already knew, I was waiting for you to speak.” She could have told me before! [Laughs]
Mothers know.
Mothers know! The truth is that this had been maturing for a while, and I’m very happy to have come this far.
There is a statistic that indicates that, historically, approximately 10 percent of the population is gay. That 10 percent is not reflected in the ATP Tour. Does that catch your attention?
I don’t think I’m that special, so I can’t be the only one, I can’t be that unique. I don’t know anything about anyone, but I think it’s unlikely that I’m the only gay player on the tour.
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Italian Accents
Italian Accents
Italian Accents
Coco Gauff and New Balance to team up with Miu Miu this summer.
Coco Gauff and New Balance to team up with Miu Miu this summer.
By Tim Newcomb
April 23, 2025
Images courtesy of New Balance
Images courtesy of New Balance
Coco Gauff plans a fashion-forward spin through three tournaments this spring and summer. As part of a New Balance x Miu Miu partnership, announced today, Gauff will wear both apparel and footwear created in collaboration with the Italian line, while playing in Rome in May, Berlin in June, and Cincinnati in August.
Gauff will wear a custom co-branded version of her signature shoe, the Coco CG2, reimagined in collaboration with Miu Miu, while also wearing different co-branded apparel for each tournament. In Rome, Gauff will don navy and white with red accents. The Berlin kit features white and green with a sky-blue accent, and her Cincinnati outfit features white and royal blue with accents of red. The designs use color blocking for a “sharp, clean and modern look,” New Balance says.
Before and after matches, the New Balance x Miu Miu collaboration for Gauff will be expanded to include silk zip-front hoodies and track pants. Gauff will also wear new iterations of the 530 SL sneaker in leather and mesh off the court.
Started by Miuccia Prada in 1993, Miu Miu now has over 100 stores worldwide. Fans of the gear will have to wait to purchase it until a launch event on Sept. 10 where Gauff will appear at the Miu Miu store in New York City.
Images courtesy of New Balance
Images courtesy of New Balance
Follow Tim Newcomb’s tennis gear coverage on Instagram at Felt Alley Tennis.
SIGN UP — YOU'RE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR SECOND SERVE.
SIGN UP — YOU'RE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR SECOND SERVE.
He’s Got the World on a String
He’s Got the World
on a String
He’s Got the World on a String
Review: Netflix’s “Carlos Alcaraz: My Way”
Review: Netflix’s “Carlos Alcaraz: My Way”
By Patrick J. Sauer
April 22, 2025
Carlos at Indian Wells 2023. // David Bartholow
Carlos at Indian Wells 2023. // David Bartholow
A month prior to Frank Sinatra’s death in May of 1998, the terrific essayist Sarah Vowell recorded a This American Life piece pleading with television anchorfolk—both high- and lowbrow—to refrain from doing the thing they were 100 percent going to do when announcing his death. Vowell lamented that each and every obit treatment would be “accompanied by the same damn song, the most obvious, unsubtle, disconcertingly dictatorial chestnut in the old man’s vast and dazzling backlog…‘My Way.’” She was dead-on, it played on every network news account, and she’s right about the song itself. The charms of Ol’ Blue Eyes’ ridiculous full-throated sentimental pomposity are not lost on me, but I recognize it’s the most “Fat Elvis” song—both figuratively and literally—in his entire catalog. The one thing the song does have going for it, though, is a sense of gravitas from one of the greatest to ever do it. “My Way” became his personal anthem (a thing he regretted as daughter Tina said he came to hate the “self-serving and self-indulgent” ditty) to such a degree that it’s become nostalgic lingua franca for elderly people on their way out who want to believe they lived a full uncompromised life. Even though they assuredly did not.
Whenever someone says they “did it my way,” Sinatra’s slow, shallow warbling instantly starts playing in my head. So it was rather unnerving to see it used in context with a 21-year-old tennis star whose life is really just starting to unspool, but it’s the title of Carlos Alcaraz: My Way, a Netflix docuseries debuting today. It may seem like a stretch to link the two, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if the young Spaniard isn’t aware of Sintara himself, let alone his signature song, but it’s such an end-of-the-journey expression that it begged questions of youth before I even watched it. Namely, how can a kid claim to be doing things “my way” before most of his adult life is yet to come? And furthermore, has Carlitos led enough of a life to warrant a three-part treatment? I’d come to find the scenes that loom largest on this front are when the wise old owls Agassi, Borg, McEnroe, and Navratilova take stock of Alacaraz’s long-game potential, the lines on their faces and the silver in their hair (minus the former mullet man) showing that their years are moving in Sinatra’s direction.
The series is a straightforward, behind-the-scenes look at Alcaraz’s 2024 season. It features the highs of wins at the French and Wimbledon, and the lows of bowing out of the Olympic doubles quarterfinals in Rafael Nadal’s last go-round and a huge meltdown and an all-timer four-bang racquet-obliterating smash (rendered in brilliant slo-mo, the production quality on My Way is superb) in a loss to Gael Monfils at the Cincinnati Open. All in all, a good year for the world’s current No. 3, who is hoping his right leg issues in Barcelona didn’t ruin a potential 22nd Madrid Open finals birthday celebration in front of a raucous home crowd in a couple weeks. If so, his family will have to triple the size of the “tennis court ringed with white balls” cake he was presented on his 21st birthday, one of the charming moments of the series. Alcaraz’s million-watt smile, ebullient personality, and clear love of busting cojones with his boys—a big-time athlete in constant fits of laughter is a sight in itself—make the series an overall entertaining watch, but the first episode was lacking in actual drama and a sense of purpose. Since we know he won Indian Wells in 2024, the storyline of him overcoming multiple 2023 injuries doesn’t have enough juice to really justify My Way’s existence beyond a solid Carlitos hang. That and, presumably, keeping the relationship between streamer and subject happy for further Netflix Slam exhibitions and the forthcoming Rafael Nadal series.
Speaking of Nadal, My Way finds its footing and takes off in the second and third episodes when Rafa enters the picture by making fun of Alcaraz for liking too many Majorcan girls’ Instagram photos. In the interview sections of the series, Alcaraz only gets heated once, and it’s in talking about how he has no desire “to be the heir to the Spanish throne,” and how it’s both irrelevant and insulting to Nadal to mention them in the same way just because he and Rafa both won three majors by age 21. He also lets a deep well of teary on-court emotion out after losing in the Olympic singles finals to Novak Djokivic, but what really seems to be breaking Carlito’s heart is knowing he had one shot to medal with his idol and it didn’t happen. The Alcaraz-Nadal doubles experiment flamed out in the quarterfinals, and for the first time, the young gun witnessed an Olympic tennis dream come to an end, one that can never be captured again. It’s probably the first time Carlitos came face-to-face with the realization that the fun is fleeting and nothing, notably athletic careers, lasts forever.
Fun, however, is what Alcaraz is currently after, and the very piece of advice Roger Federer gives him, upon their first real chat, is to find it elsewhere at every tournament and in-between stretch. (For Nadal, we learn it means pre-match Parcheesi.) Carlos eats it up, exclaiming to an assembled practice crowd after Fed leaves that he has “gotten some of the magic” on his arms from their warm embrace. Fun is also why he ignores the advice of his team and his pill of an agent—a whinger who wants sympathy for being away from his family every year on his birthday at Wimbledon, which somehow his teenage kids can’t get to even though a Barcelona–London flight is two and a half hours—and goes to Ibiza for a nonstop week of partying after the 2023 French Open semis loss to Novak. It’s seen by Team Alcaraz as the immature act of someone who isn’t properly training for grass season. Then he won Wimbledon, so he did it again in 2024. Same results. Fiesta on, amigo.
The trips weren’t simply a dude blowing off steam, either; they were part of Alcaraz’s astute understanding of what he needs mentally in order to never “see tennis as an obligation.” What he is trying to figure out is how to do it his way, to lay down a road map that doesn’t break him on the journey to “sit at the table with the Big Three.” There is already an insane amount of pressure and expectation that 20 majors are a sure thing, but in true Gen-Z fashion, he doesn’t seem as obsessed with it as everyone in his orbit. Other than his mother, of course, who has the best line in the show when she says, “I don’t want my son to turn into a worn-out toy later on.”
Neither does Carlos Alcaraz, because he admits that right now, he doesn’t know if he wants to become a “slave to the game,” a dismal idea that his coach, the unsmiling Juan Carlos Ferrero, posits multiple times throughout the series. Alacaraz isn’t having all of it; he’s determined to not hate a sport he loves or live a life he doesn’t want. Given the crash-and-burning of so many young stars over the years, it’s admirable and feels very Gen-Z for a man his age to put such stock in self-care. Is part of it playing to the cameras? Probably, but Alcaraz is so likable in My Way, I swallowed it whole. I’m already on record here hoping he knocks Novak out of the top spot in 2040 give or take, but Carlitos won me over even more with his refreshing approach to his crazy, high-profile, jet-set existence. It’s best encapsulated in Alcaraz’s big-picture “how” he’ll know if his tennis career is on point: “I’ll choose happiness over massive success, because happiness is already success…”
Come to think of it, that reminds me of something a certain crooner facing that final curtain once asked and answered: “What is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has naught…”
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Performance First
Performance First
Performance First
How Joelle Michaeloff, vice president of design at Wilson, used “stealth technology” to make fashion forward tennis clothes.
How Joelle Michaeloff, vice president of design at Wilson, used “stealth technology” to make fashion forward tennis clothes.
By Tim Newcomb
April 18, 2025
Marta Kostyuk and Alycia Parks representing Wilson dresses. // Getty
Marta Kostyuk and Alycia Parks representing Wilson dresses. // Getty
At more than 110 years old, Wilson sure is showing serious spunk. One of the oldest American sportswear brands out there launched tennis fashion anew five years ago behind the creative direction of Joelle Michaeloff, a veteran of brands such as Lululemon, Urban Outfitters and Spiritual Gangster. The fashion-forward nature of the designs—both on the professional tours with the likes of Marta Kostyuk and Alycia Parks and for the playing masses—has pushed Wilson past the idea of an equipment-only company and into a tennis style leader.
That was all so very intentional.
The Second Serve’s Tim Newcomb connected with Michaeloff, Wilson’s head of design, who launched the brand’s efforts in what has become one of the hottest fashion-forward forays in tennis in the past few years. Here she shares the strategy behind Wilson Sportswear.
How did Wilson’s history as an equipment maker impact the launch of Sportswear?
The only reason we are here is the equipment. We needed the equipment. For 110 years we have been making the best equipment in sport, and without that we would have also had to prove our innovation and prove we were technical. There are all sorts of things a new brand would have to prove, but this was Wilson, of course it would work.
How did that equipment mantra impact the fashion side?
For the fashion and style aspect of it, at the very beginning [Wilson Sportswear president] Gordon [Devin] asked me if we were to partner with someone to get this going as fast as humanly possible, what would I do and who would be the partner? I made a short list of people in fashion who had adjacency in sport to help validate what we were building from a style perspective. That’s why in 2021 we launched with Kith. [Kith founder] Ronnie Fieg has been a long-term adviser in terms of culture and style and coming at it from a different point of view than myself. I have grown up in fashion, technology, and athleisure, but Ronnie brought in a lifestyle perspective from an affluent, cooler consumer. I think that really helped to push and validate Wilson.
How did Wilson technology play a role?
Because we set out to always build beautiful product with innovation—what we call stealth technology—we set out to make it look good first and foremost, and at that time it was really missing in the market. What Wilson was able to make [apparel] look and feel like wasn’t happening at the time, and it set a groundwork for Wilson to create this. It felt natural—I’m biased, right?—but if you were to think what is Wilson going to create, it is technical and beautiful.
What was your strategy for tennis?
No. 1, we wanted to be meaningful to someone. We could have gone extremely broad—our first collection in 2020 was broad, and we threw a lot of spaghetti at the wall to see what would stick—but because of our position in tennis with equipment, we wanted to home in on tennis, especially since the appetite was there from the consumer, and the athlete was telling us to be there. We set out to win with women. We were already winning with men, so really focusing on women was another sort of risk. Women didn’t already have a place that was natural with Wilson, we just weren’t there yet. We set out to be technical and innovative first, but we didn’t want to look that way, we didn’t want to look techy. We were performance first and foremost just like the equipment but wanted to honor our past and bring it into the modern day. All of those things were top of mind.
How did that work out?
What’s crazy is out of the gate we were winning with women. We set out to do it and we did it. We are 60 to 70 percent women from a sales perspective, and that has pushed us to develop larger collections. We wanted to surprise and delight women, wanted to continue to build confidence for men (it takes longer to get a male consumer). Eventually the goal is to get closer to 50-50, but because the strategy is to win with women, I see us always being 60-40.
Why do you think you’ve had that success?
Wilson is an incredible brand. When I talk to anyone at any age, any generation, everyone has a story. When I tell people I work for Wilson, their faces light up. It is a loved American sports brand. That is a gift. I can’t believe I get to do this. There are not that many brands this old that at some point in their journey didn’t stay true to who they were or had a pivot point where they followed markets or trends. Wilson has been steady and true to the athlete, been an ally of the athlete since day one. I do feel the athlete was willing to give us a try. I do think that has helped us tremendously. We were a small and scrappy team operating like a start-up. We didn’t allow the enormity of the brand to slow us down or stop us from learning. Everything we do is learn and react. We still are the ally of the athlete, and we listen. Style is temporary. The real power is in listening and learning and reacting.
Can you describe the Wilson Sportswear aesthetic?
I describe it as classic, dependable. We pull from our heritage, but we do it in a new and modern way. We really have the right to do that more than anyone else because of who we are. We are not trendy; we are on trend. When you are classic, you are creating the trends anyway. If you saw us walking down the street in four years, would you be embarrassed or stoked? If embarrassed, that is not for the brand.
How important was it to get an athlete like Marta Kostyuk on board?
When we signed Marta I was heavily involved. I had never pitched athletes before, it was a new muscle for me. I was passionate about finding the right athlete. Who we signed was so incredibly important and critical. We needed to sign an elite athlete who could give feedback as fast as possible. They had to want to wear the brand, want to give feedback, be in our process. That is not everybody. The moment I knew this was going to be big was when we did our first fitting [with Kostyuk], and as soon as she put it on, all the fears and things of “Is it too heavy, will she feel comfortable?”—it all melted away. She said, “This is amazing, look how cute I look,” all of these things. That was the moment for me when I knew we had something here, we are in a good place. If we can dress an elite athlete and she loves it and feels comfortable in it and is game to help us make it great, this is big.
How imperative was it to get other athletes on board?
It has been really important. I can gush about Marta, but we also wanted different types of players, different body types, different aesthetics. We really wanted to round out who we are designing for, so, not going after a specific niche but opening the aperture. Each player is unique; they dress different, play different, and have different personalities and preferences. When we met Alycia [Parks], she didn’t like pleats—I think we’ve changed that, by the way, so now she will wear whatever and is super happy with how her pleats move. Her first thing she said to me is “More, everything plus.” She wanted everything extra. Her style is over-the-top. Peyton [Stearns] is more sporty. They all have different preferences, so we don’t just focus on one person’s feedback.
What did you do with Marta that worked?
Every other brand is all about their logo and all about how big it can be, maximizing it front and center. One of the first things we did with Marta’s first season on court wearing Wilson—which was a pretty big risk, and I took a lot of heat for it, but it was very calculated and on purpose—was you could barely find the logo. I wanted what she was wearing to be more important and to stand out, so people started to talk. The amount of conversation about “Where is the logo on Marta?” I told people [internally] it will get bigger—it is not any bigger, by the way—it will get more obvious, but give me a little more time. It needed to be about her style and about her before it was about Wilson.
We broke every rule in setting Marta up, so we weren’t going to follow the rules now. It was important for her personal style to show that it really exuded who she was. It wasn’t about us; it is about her. She is a tremendous athlete, she’s beautiful, an amazing player and passionate. We wanted that to be first and foremost. Without seeing the logo, Marta started to be called the best-dressed athlete on court. You could only see the logo when you got really close, which was very much my plan. All of it was my plan. She is aligned with the vision of not putting logos all over her—the logos represent money, of course—but it was about building her brand. We are not putting clothes on athletes because it is an advertisement; we are investing in athletes. The wedding dress only occurred because of that relationship, because we understood how to dress Marta with her help.
What are you most proud of so far?
Working for Wilson has been a gift and almost feels like a dream to be able to put an aesthetic around such an amazing 110-year-old brand. It seems insane, and we have been running so fast you almost forget to stop and pause. The fact that we were able to get up and running so quickly and put on elite athletes right from the beginning, I am really proud of our innovation, our quality. We can do all the things we talked about, but if we didn’t build the best product, in my biased opinion, it wouldn’t be great to me. It must be all of those things. I want people to buy it and hold on to it for a really long time.