‘Not Even Close!’: Fans Accuse Nike of Poorly Copying Vintage Rafael Nadal Nike Kit For Jannik Sinner To Wear at Monte Carlo Masters

The tennis world is already aware of Carlos Alcaraz wearing a sleeveless Nike T-shirt. This is akin to what his idol Rafael Nadal used to wear. Now, being consistent with Rafael Nadal’s impact on the younger generation, Jannik Sinner has worn an outfit that is very similar to what Nadal wore at the 2010 US Open.

Jannik Sinner has started the clay court season with a bang. Fresh off his Miami Open title win, Sinner defeated Sebastian Korda 6-1, 6-2 in the Round of 32 clash. He will now face Jan-Lennard Struff from Germany in the next round.

For those who believe in coincidences, Sinner’s 2024 season could be similar to the one Nadal had in 2010. At the Monte Carlo Masters that year, the Spaniard defeated Mikhail Youzhny, Novak Djokovic and Fernando Verdasco in the quarter-final, semi-final and final respectively. After that, Nadal proceeded to win the French Open as well as Wimbledon and the US Open titles.

Rafael Nadal loved the outfit, and its designs looked slick and cool for any tennis player. It was a black T-shirt with grey leathery patches around the upper shoulders. The design was complete with a shield-like ornate, that flowed from the arms and shoulders to the lower abdomen. It was super cool.

The outfit was complete with black shorts, black wristbands, black socks, and yellow shoes. The entire outfit was by Nike which had its iconic logo emblazoned in tennis-ball-yellow.

Although Nadal didn’t wear that exact outfit again, he did present himself in black T-shirts quite often after that. This was especially true for all the remaining US Open finals he won i.e. 2013, 2017, and 2019. In 2019, it was almost a similar design to the 2010 US Open T-Shirt. But instead of the yellow Nike logo, it had a bright purple one. He also wore bright purple wristbands and a headband, to go with the dark black T-shirt.

Sinner’s recent Nike black T-shirt with a neon yellow lining around the collar, eerily reminiscent of Nadal’s, raises a few questions. Could it be that this whole coincidence was deliberate? Could it be that Nike offered Sinner in the same manner as perceived and that Sinner accepted it, given that he is a huge Nadal fan? As of now, confirmation is awaited on any of these, and they remain mere speculations.

Fan reactions range all over the place, where some believe that Nike is trying to rebuild their image with Sinner, as it did with Nadal for many years. Whereas many others believe that Nike is simply recycling old player outfits and has lost its creativity. There is much criticism around it too.

The Rafael Nadal Nike black T-shirt from the 2010 US Open currently costs $5850 on Julien’s Live.

Jannik Sinner picks his favorite moment from Monte Carlo Masters

In another video shared by the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on X, tennis players from this season are choosing their favorite play or moment ever from the history of the tournament.

The post reads, “”That’s one of the best shots I’ve seen ever!” From Nadal to Becker, the stars of the ATP Tour decide the best play ever in Monte Carlo!”

Novak Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Holger Rune, Taylor Fritz and others rewatched those moments on an iPad and chose their favorite moments carefully and went with a Boris Becker tweener from the 1991 final. But Jannik Sinner picked the 2009 Monte-Carlo Masters final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for the ‘best point ever played in this tournament’.

This was the first point of the 3rd set between Djokovic and Nadal in that match. An excruciatingly long rally culminated in Nadal luring Djokovic into the nets and then hitting it back at an extremely acute angle. Djokovic couldn’t get there.