The new Nike collection inspired by the style of Andre Agassi

Tennis is making a comeback and the US Open will have all the spotlight in the world on. A tournament, that of New York, which is seen a bit like the restart point after months of hiatus. It will in all likelihood be one of the most followed media events and brands cannot miss such an opportunity. The US Open has always been seen as an unconventional tournament, ever since 30 years ago a very young Andre Agassi destroyed them with an irreverent, wild and rebellious style. 30 years later, Nike has decided to bring those fabulous 90s outfits back to American concrete.

The new collaboration between the author of "Open" and the swoosh has given life to version 2.0 of the "Challenge Court" line that has made Andre Agassi's style famous all over the world. The former world number one was considered the symbolic face of a new generation of tennis players who appeared on the great stages of world tennis. The long hair, the first "jeans on court" in history, the bright colors and the craziest sunglasses matched perfectly with a deliberately "provocative" clothing line, which marked a radical step in the approach, even popular, to one sports such as tennis.

The intrinsic meaning of the outfits, of the collections that Nike dedicated to the man from 60 ATP titles and 8 Grand Slam tournaments and the entire aesthetic of clothing on the pitch was one: anti-establishment. In an interview with Forbes, Andre Agassi retraced his stylistic career and recalled how those stylistic choices influenced the tennis and streetwear culture of those times.

"We were looking for something that went beyond borders, that broke the protocols of a sport like tennis. We have found it. It all started with my arrogance and the feeling that Nike was ready to go beyond all boundaries. I was finding out what I wanted to communicate. A lot had to do with the rebellious phase I was in, anything that broke the idea of the establishment was my biggest motivation at the time. I look back, I look at that collection now and I think it was the beginning of a beautiful thing. It was, once again, real and authentic, but it was also an exploration, in a constant process of research that evolved and transformed continuously. People felt the freedom to feel what they wanted to be".

A revolutionary aesthetic, applied to the unique character of a 20-year-old boy. The symbolic image of being "disruptive" was the Air Tech Challenge II "Hot Lava", a creation resulting from the work of two geniuses like Tinker Hatfield and Wilson Smith and the ideas of Agassi. After 30 years, Nike has recreated a team that involved the former world number 1 and new Nike designers to create one of the most successful vintage collections ever.