The research is clear. Andre Agassi should have worn blue more often.
Agassi was equally famous in the early 1990s for winning a few Grand Slam titles and for his colorful, tradition-busting Nike outfits.
Starting with the 1990 French Open, Agassi generally showed up at each Grand Slam sporting a new Nike ensemble featuring color schemes rarely seen on tennis’ biggest stages. Agassi’s fans looked forward to seeing the new outfits as much as they looked forward to his actual matches.
Did Agassi perform better in certain colors? We crunched the numbers to find out. We calculated Agassi’s record at each Grand Slam based on the predominant color of his main outfit at each major. We stuck to 1990 through 1997, the years when Agassi mixed more colors than Picasso. (From 1998 on, Agassi’s outfits were decidedly more predictable - as was his performance).
Did Andre Agassi play better in some colors than others?
#7 – Black and white (.714 winning percentage at Grand Slams)
Maybe Agassi was on to something by wearing a variety of colors in the early 1990s. His worst results occurred on the rare occasions that black and white were the primary colors in his outfits. If you can’t remember Agassi making a deep run at a major in black and white clothes during this time frame … it’s because it never happened.
#6 – Orange (.818 winning percentage)
We’re including Agassi’s wardrobe from the 1995 U.S. Open, which featured a couple of burnt orange selections, plus the peach shirt he wore during his short stay at the 1997 U.S. Open. It’s fitting to tie the two together. Agassi made the final of the 1995 U.S. Open, where he lost in four sets against Pete Sampras.
That setback sent Agassi’s career into a tailspin that hit its nadir right around the 1997 U.S. Open, where Agassi somehow made the fourth round despite showing up in New York woefully out of form and out of style. (Peach? It’s the one Agassi outfit from this era I made no effort to acquire).
Agassi rededicated himself to tennis soon after that 1997 U.S. Open. It seems he also decided to rededicate himself to conventional clothing at the same time. The peach top was the last time Agassi made headlines for the colors in his outfits.
#5 – White (.821 winning percentage)
Agassi had no choice but to wear all-white at the All-England Club when he played at Wimbledon, which continues to enforce its strict dress code today. Agassi posted a 23-5 record at Wimbledon from 1990 through 1997, including a surprise run to his first Grand Slam title in 1992.
#4 – Green (.833 winning percentage)
By our calculations, Agassi wore this color at just two majors during the years of our research – the 1990 and 1992 U.S. Opens. Calling the 1990 outfit " green " is debatable. I say it’s green. You might say yellow, Nike called it “volt.” Whatever color it was, Agassi charged all the way to the 1990 U.S. Open final in that motif before a then-relatively-unknown Pete Sampras shocked him in the title match.
#3 – Purple (.846 winning percentage)
Purple was the predominant color in an Agassi outfit twice during the early 1990s – the 1991 and 1992 French Opens. Agassi wore those colors to a tidy 11-2 record, reaching the final in 1991 and the semifinal in 1992. Jim Courier clearly liked seeing Agassi in these tones. Courier eliminated Agassi from Roland Garros in both years.
#2 – “Red” (.867 winning percentage)
It’s my article, so I’m combining all shades of red into one category. We’re including Agassi’s pink-hued “hot lava” look when he was runner-up at the 1990 French Open and his burgundy pirate garb when he won the 1995 Australian Open. Agassi himself included those two outfits on his personal list of his three favorites from that era.
“Red” technically tied with the next entry as Agassi’s most successful color. I’m demoting it to No. 2 in the tiebreaker since the various “red” outfits were all over the color spectrum, plus the one unquestionably “red” outfit he wore during this time carries the stench of a first-round loss at the 1991 U.S. Open.
#1 – Blue (.867 winning percentage)
Agassi won 13 of 15 Grand Slam matches when blue was the primary color in his tournament wardrobe. That record includes his run to the U.S. Open title as an unseeded player in 1994 plus a semifinal appearance in New York two years later.
The conclusion is clear. Agassi should have bedecked himself in blue more often!