The 2024 WimbledonShoe Report
The 2024 WimbledonShoe Report
The Championships bring subtle sneaker tweaks.
The Championships bring subtle sneaker tweaks.
By Tim NewcombJuly 3, 2024
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: Wimbledon footwear is all about white. And not a lot more. Coming on the heels of the fashion-forward Roland-Garros, brands dipping their toes in the Parisian style came away with a bit of clay on the outsole. When it comes time for Wimbledon in London, just a few weeks later, there’s not a lot of colorful leeway, so expect the grass stains to combine with one main color—or lack of color.
While the Australian Open is known for brands introducing new footwear styles for the calendar year, Roland-Garros an effort to show off Parisian-inspired design, and the late-summer US Open all about making a late-season splash, brands have the double whammy of Wimbledon that keeps them subdued, both the restrictive color rules and the fact that grass-soled shoes aren’t typically a retail offering (it is actually rare for a brand to sell a grass-soled shoe in the United States).
As we look to 2024 Wimbledon in footwear, design is largely defined by accents. This year we see plenty of black (Asics, New Balance, Yonex, On, Adidas, and Lotto) and green (Wilson, Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka, and Lacoste), even if we have a few notable snippets to discuss.
CARLOS ALCARAZ
Nike Zoom Vapor 11 Carlos PE
Carlos Alcaraz is donning a player-edition version of the Nike Vapor 11, his with soft blue accents on the collar, Swoosh, and in a diamond pattern on the midfoot. We don’t know a lot about what’s under the hood of the Vapor 11 for Alcaraz, but seeing him get special treatment with the colorway—and seeing that it is now available as a retail option—leaves us hopeful that by the U.S. Open Nike will give us an entire Alcaraz color story. With the Spaniard leading the new crop of male tennis athletes for Nike—Jannik Sinner is also a Nike athlete, but he’s not as willing to try new styles when it comes to his sneakers—if the brand wants to continue to make a splash in men’s tennis, expect it to happen with Alcaraz.
Images courtesy of Nike
Images courtesy of Nike
BALL KIDS
Babolat SFX 3 Wimbledon
The official sponsor of Wimbledon footwear, Babolat outfits the ball kids. That includes the footwear, a choice between the SFX 3 Wimbledon or Propulse Junior Wimbledon. The SFX 3 model is a white base, obviously, but comes accented in gold and with the official Wimbledon logo on the tongue. The Propulse Junior offers up silver accenting and moves the official tournament logo to the heel.
Images courtesy of Babolat
Images courtesy of Babolat
NAOMI OSAKA
Nike GP Challenge 1
Naomi Osaka gets special treatment at Nike. That includes everything from her kit to her footwear. Wearing the GP Challenge 1, Osaka has come to Wimbledon with green accents on her shoe and her personalized “NO” logo on the tongue of the model.
Image courtesy of Craig E. Shapiro
Image courtesy of Craig E. Shapiro
COCO GAUFF
New Balance Coco CG1
Typically, New Balance makes a big deal—rightfully so, in the opinion of tennis sneaker lovers—of each new colorway of the only signature shoe in the game for an active player, but this year’s Wimbledon has little fanfare (just wait until we tell you about the upcoming Olympics model, though!). Gauff is wearing an all-white Coco CG1 with a slight outline of neon around the black “N” logo on the heel, splashing a bit of color that the rest of the New Balance athletes don’t enjoy.
Alamy
Alamy
DANIIL MEDVEDEV
Lacoste AG-LT Ultra
Lacoste has brought out a players-only grass-court version of the AG-LT23, and Daniil Medvedev is again sporting a version with his personal logo.
Images courtesy of Lacoste
Images courtesy of Lacoste
NOVAK DJOKOVIC
Asics Court FF3 “Novak”
Novak Djokovic has a green-accented version of his Asics Court FF 3, even as all the other Asics athletes have black. The Djokovic shoe also features a “24” on the lateral side, signifying how many major championships he has won.
Images courtesy of Asics
Images courtesy of Asics
— Wilson wowed with a Wimbledon dress for Marta Kostyuk inspired by the wedding dress Wilson designed for her November 2023 wedding, but her shoes offer the latest in performance models from the brand. The brand-new Wilson Rush Pro 4.5 features a green accent.
— When Andy Murray takes the court in the doubles, this will likely be the last time we see Under Armour tennis shoes on a grass court. For a brand that has never released a tennis shoe at retail, Murray has given them quite a run, still dipping into a stash of shoes he has worn since leaving the brand in 2018.
— Leylah Fernandez is one of the most interesting sneaker stories in the sport without trying to be. The Lululemon athlete does not have a footwear deal and surprised at the 2023 US Open by wearing the Breanna Stewart signature basketball shoe from Puma (she bought them on her own without Puma knowing) during the doubles portion of the tournament. She stuck with the shoe in Australia, but the need for a clay-court sole had her wearing On at Roland-Garros. Earlier in the grass season she sported Asics, but is back in On for Wimbledon.
Follow Tim Newcomb’s tennis gear coverage on Instagram at Felt Alley Tennis.
