Buying guide
Tennis clothing
The movements in tennis, and what your shirt needs to handle
Tennis alternates between explosive sprints, sudden stops and shots where your whole body rotates. On the serve and the smash your arm goes all the way up, and a shirt that is too short or too tight rides up over your stomach. Choose a tennis T-shirt with the shoulder seam placed where your shoulder ends and enough length to stay put when you stretch.
A match can go on for a long time, and sweat builds up, especially on your back. Polyester is light and dries faster than cotton, so your tennis shirt does not become heavy and cold while you change ends. Many players keep a spare shirt in their bag for long matches and change when they sit down at the changeover.
Clay, hard courts and indoor courts
In much of Europe, a large part of the season is played outdoors on clay or hard courts, and many clubs move indoors when the weather turns cold. Outside, you face sun and wind, and many players prefer light colours. Indoors, the air is often warm and still, so lightweight tennis clothing makes a noticeable difference.
If you play on clay, a little red dust almost always ends up on your clothes. Shake the shirt out before it goes in the washing machine, wash it inside out at a low temperature and let it air dry without fabric softener. Follow the care label in the product.
Dress codes at clubs and tournaments
Some clubs and tournaments have dress requirements. The best-known example is Wimbledon, where players must be dressed almost entirely in white. For everyday training and club play the rules are usually more relaxed, but they vary from club to club.
Our tennis T-shirts have a colourful pattern, so they are suited to training, fitness and club matches with no all-white rule. If you are playing in a tournament, check the organiser's rules before choosing your kit for the day.
Polos, shorts and accessories are coming later
Many people associate tennis with the polo shirt, and it is on our list too, along with shorts, socks, headbands and wristbands. None of these are in the shop yet. Right now you can buy our tennis T-shirts, and if you join Zilenzo Club, we will let you know when the rest of the tennis clothing is ready.
A tennis design found by artificial intelligence
We started with tennis and a feeling of rhythm and control from the baseline. From that idea, artificial intelligence generated a large number of patterns and colour combinations, and then we took over: we chose the few that worked and adapted them to the men's and women's cuts. Every Zilenzo design comes about this way, and we think that is worth being open about.