On Loïs Boisson's shirts
A tennis star is born. And so too are sponsorship deals.
You don’t have to be a sports fanatic to appreciate its unique ability to transform a player from complete unknown to national hero overnight. If you’re watching the French Open this season, you know the player who achieved that feat is Loïs Boisson.
Boisson began the week at Roland Garros as an unseeded wildcard coming back to tennis from an ACL injury, and ended it taking out two top ten players to reach the semifinals on her hometurf. I’m only a very casual tennis viewer, but to put it another way, on Sunday I didn’t even know the French spelled Lois with an umlaut, and on Thursday, I was locked into Boisson’s semifinal match against Coco Gauff and nodding along as commenters said, “She’s going to tire herself out looking for the forehand.”
Beyond rallying the French crowds and knocking out top-tier competition, Boisson picked up another trademark in her surprise winning streak: a simple quarter-zip Asics singlet.
Boisson’s kit, which she has maintained as she upset the tournament, was unusual compared to her competitors. Unlike other players dressed in hyper-coordinated, head-to-branded looks, she looked like a scrappy upstart in athletic gear you might buy off the shelf. And yes, those are Adidas shoes she wore with the Asics top and shorts. Likely the last time you’ll ever see that happen at a Grand Slam semifinal.
Compare that to the tennis dresses and matching sets that have dominated the French Open women’s competition. The optics of Boisson on the court call to mind the final match of Challengers between Mike Faist in clean cut Uniqlo and Josh O’Connor in an artfully mismatched tank and shorts (except O’Connor’s Challengers kit was designed by newly-minted Dior creative director Jonathan Anderson, and the movie was chock full of spon-con beyond that Uniqlo look anyway).
Sponsorship is never far out of frame in any sport after all, and Boisson’s look is no exception. Even throughout the week, her singlet evolved from a single Asics logo to pick up a few extra sponsorhips as her star rose.
Boisson’s Cinderella run ended on Thursday’s semifinal match when the No. 2 ranked player Coco Gauff took her out in two swift sets. Gauff had her own meteoric rise at the age of just fifteen when she defeated Venus Williams in a surprise upset at Wimbledon in 2019. Gauff was already kitted out in head-to-toe New Balance even then, and, as Redditors pointed out after Boisson defeated Mirra Andreeva in the quarter-finals, Asics may not let Boisson get on the court without a similarly unified look ever again.
On Saturday, Gauff will face off world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka for the championship. Depending who you ask, the match could also be called New Balance vs. Nike for the win. I’ll be rooting for Coco to take it all, but no matter who wins, Boisson (and Asics) have certainly already won more than they bargained for.
