Why Do Female Tennis Players Wear Skirts? Quick Answer

If you wandered to this article, you must have noticed that many female tennis players wear skirts and want to know why. I totally understand because when I first noticed the popularity of skirts, I too wanted to know why that is.

In this article, I will teach you why tennis skirts are popular among women playing tennis. In addition, I’ll talk some more about skirts and their future and more. But first, why do tennis players wear skirts?

Female tennis players wear skirts because they are comfortable and don’t restrict movement on the court. Skirts are also feminine and stylish, which makes the players feel good. Also, skirts often have undershorts where athletes can store tennis balls, and sponsors may pay them to wear a branded skirt.

There are many reasons for wearing a skirt on the tennis court where some reasons are more important than others.

5 reasons why female tennis athletes wear skirts

Next, I’ll walk you through the 5 main reasons why women choose to wear skirts even when there are many alternatives out there.

1. Comfort

The first and most important reason for women to wear a skirt is comfort. There are no better garments than skirts for airflow and breathability. This way, your focus won’t wonder to sweaty legs and steamy feel, but you will constantly feel fresh with good airflow.

If you feel good and don’t have any distracting things on your body, you can have %100 focus on your opponent and the ball, so naturally, you will play better.

However, a skirt isn’t the only thing the women athletes wear when you see one because that wouldn’t be too comfortable. This is why tennis skirts come with elastic undershorts that tightly provide reliable comfort and range of motion.

Most skirts are really short because it enhances the skirts benefits even further, but if you wouldn’t feel comfortable in a short skirt, you can get a slightly longer one. And again, if that is what makes you comfortable, it’s the right thing to do.

Learn more: Why Are Tennis Skirts So Short?

2. Style

Another big reason why women wear skirts while playing tennis is style! Can you honestly say that tennis skirts aren’t stylish? I know I can’t, and that’s the thing with most tennis players as well. However, it isn’t for everyone, and that is okay as well.

When a female tennis player chooses to wear a skirt, there isn’t just one model to choose from. There are various designs, styles, colors, and brands to choose the right one just for your style. Luckily nowadays, the rules aren’t so tight as they used to be with skirt length and color so that you can play around them some more.

You can have multiple skirts and mix them up with your top, shoe, and even racket color to create stunning styles. When you feel that you look good, it will make you more confident, and guess what? That makes you a better tennis player!

Another thing with skirts other than style is that they are feminine. As most women like to look feminine, the skirt is a natural choice for that, and it will make you feel more at home if skirts are what you prefer.

3. Convenience

Convenience is a big part of everything, and that includes tennis. Skirts are really fast to put on, they come with undershorts that feel light and secure, and the undershorts are included with pockets for a tennis ball and your belongings.

Suppose you thought that women that use skirts in tennis need to run constantly to the sides to get balls, nope! They can carry one or even two balls in the pockets of their undershorts. The pockets are often really elastic, so they will tighten up against the thigh when there is nothing there, and it’s like the pocket isn’t there.

If you are playing in a tennis club, it’s also nice to carry your club card, a key for the locker room, and maybe some cash with you so you can get a beverage without any further thought of your belongings.

4. Tennis feel

Over the years, tennis has acquired an iconic reputation when it comes to skirts. There is no other sport where skirts are so heavily in sports history and culture. It’s like the women have an unspoken dress code where skirts are in the center of it all.

Wearing a skirt in other sports like table tennis or cricket, you would get looks with wide eyes and a dropped jaw because that isn’t something the sports and athletes are accustomed to seeing.

This makes tennis unique in its own way, and that’s always something to be proud of.

5. Sponsors

The final reason why one might wear a tennis skirt is sponsors. Yes, wearing a tennis skirt can be a matter of money which often surprises people. However, the skirt isn’t the only one where the sponsor’s logo will shine because often the athletes wear t-shorts, tops, hats, rackets, and even socks where the sponsor’s logo is visible.

And let me tell you that sponsoring and advertisement fees are a huge slice of the top tennis players’ earnings. In fact, the vast majority of the best tennis player’s salaries are made out of advertising contracts.

For example, Naomi Osaka earned a whopping 37.4 million dollars in 2020. However, only 3.4 million were tournament price wins, whereas the rest was advertising contracts. The same pattern is shown in Serena William’s earnings because she earned 36 million in 2020, and 32 million of that were advertisement payments. Let’s take a final example. Roger Federer earned a ridiculous amount of 106.3 million where from 100 million were advertisement costs!

As you can see, sponsors aren’t something to ignore when you are a world-class tennis player. Of course, for any tennis match being broadcasted or has a big audience, the players are most likely to earn something from sponsors.

History of tennis skirts

From the beginning of tennis, women have been wearing skirts. However, these skirts didn’t look like the ones we see today because they were considerably longer. In fact, a calf-length skirt was considered a short one. This all started to change in the 1920s by Suzanne Lenglen, which I will talk about shortly.

Nowadays, when it is more acceptable for women to show more skin as it should be, the skirts have shortened considerably because a long one isn’t very comfortable, it gets in the way, and it is just worse than a short one.

Below you can find historical eras about tennis skirts.

• 1880s-1918: Only strick long tennis skirts were used by women.
• 1919: Shorter (calf-length) tennis skirts were brought to tennis by Suzanne Lenglen.
• 1920s-1970s: Tennis skirts shortened each decade.
• 1970s-1980s: Experimenting with different tennis skirt colors and styles.
• 1980s-2020s: Slow morphing to tennis skirts we all know today.

Evolution of tennis skirts

The person who really started the evolution of tennis skirts was the famous Suzanne Lenglen, and it all started in Wimbledon in 1919. The day Suzanne made the first steps to tennis skirts evolution, she wore a low-neck dress with short sleeves and a calf-length pleated skirt. Also, she had silk stockings pulled up just above her knees and a funny-looking floppy hat.

This wasn’t considered as feminine and ladylike, so it really became a Wimbledons first fashion scandal. However, people got impressed with Suzanne because she won the tournament and the next 4 Wimbledon tournaments afterward, in addition to other reputable tournaments and even 3 Olympic medals.

All of this started a positive scandal. From the 1920s, tennis skirts became shorter and shorter each decade because women got further from the traditional ladylike standards and were more focused on performance on the court.

For decades the skirts didn’t see other changes than in shortness. Still, at the beginning of the 1970s, slow experimenting towards different styles and colors was started, and nowadays, you can find a skirt from every design, color, and length you can imagine.

In the modern 2020 era, tennis skirts are as short as the undershorts beneath, and everything longer than them is acceptable. In addition, various styles and fashion scandals have come after the first one created by Suzanne Lenglen, so different styles are embraced, and there are no pointless restrictions for women anymore.

The future of tennis skirts

In today’s world, tennis skirts are still really popular; however, they have decreased in popularity because there are so much more alternatives today. The alternatives aren’t either something that lacks comfort or style, but they can be equal to skirts in the features. Still, skirts aren’t going away ever when it comes to tennis.

The thing is, modern skirts have come a long way from the 1920s skirts and will probably continue to do so thanks to ever-evolving technology. Nowadays, skirts are extremely light with great breathability, and thanks to the comfortable and feature-rich elastic undershorts, the benefits of skirts are uncanny compared to the old models.

Tennis skirt alternatives

As I said, there are many alternatives to tennis skirts and the most popular ones are shorts and dresses but there are even more to choose from. I have gathered a list of tennis skirt alternatives, and if you want to learn more about each of them, you can click the link that takes you to Amazon.

• Tennis dress
• Tennis shorts
• Full bodysuit
• Leggins
• Joggers

What do female tennis players wear under their skirts?

Female tennis players wear undershorts under their skirts. Often, the undershorts are made with spandex or other elastic materials to fit tightly yet comfortably. Also, the undershorts often have pockets for tennis balls and belongings. Tennis skirts with undershorts are also called skorts.

What do female athletes wear under their shorts?

Depending on the female athlete’s preferences and body type, she might use boyshorts or seamless thongs underneath the compression shorts. Other popular choices are v and g-strings, so if you aren’t sure what to wear under the shorts, try different ones and choose the best fitting one.