How tennis and fashion made the perfect match

One of the best tennis players of his time, notorious ladies' man and loveable rogue Fred Perry was approached by Austrian footballer Tibby Wegner to help create the first wrist sweatband in the late 1940s. They then launched the Fred Perry tennis shirt at Wimbledon in 1952 which became an instant hit, becoming a must-have item for the young Mods of the Sixties and Seventies. The quintessentially British brand sponsored Andy Murray until 2010, and is still best known as a staple of preppy tennis attire.

Bjorn Borg

Swedish tennis heartthrob Bjorn Borg is widely considered as one of the best players in the sport's history. Winning 11 Grand Slam titles and setting a number of still-standing records, his glowing success fuelled the rising popularity of tennis in the late Seventies and early Eighties. His long locks, fixed under his trademark cotton headband, and his championing of Italian brands Fila and Diadora cemented his status as a style icon, a look which was widely imitated in those years. His rising influence in fashion led him to launch his own clothing label, Bjorn Borg, in 1984.

Anna Kourkinova

Anna was criticised for her performance throughout her career, having never won a WTA singles title, but her glamorous looks won her many lucrative endorsements with brands like Adidas and Omega, earning around £32 million last year alone. The Russian bombshell was known for her revealing attire on court, which included crop tops with matching mini skirts, sun visors and pastel colours at the Australian and US Opens, which are generally less restrictive in their dress codes than at Wimbledon.

Chris Evert

Known as the 'Ice Maiden', Chris Evert won eight Grand Slam titles and was ranked Number One in the world seven times. She wore ribbons in her hair, embroidered flowers on her tennis whites and ever rising hemlines, causing a stir when she wore frilly pink knickers under her skirt at Wimbledon in 1976. Last year she collaborated with Tail activewear for an on-trend sports clothing line, proving that the Queen of Cool can still score in the fashion world.

Venus and Serena Williams

The Williams sisters have both cut a very striking figure over the years with bold brights in place of the traditional whites, with Venus now working on her own label, EleVen. She and her sister Serena have become known for their stand-out style, even sitting beside Anna Wintour herself in the front row of the Zac Posen Spring/Summer 2009 show at New York Fashion Week. Venus always has a carefully considered ensemble, down to her colour co-ordinated acrylic manicure. True to form, she insisted in an interview with a Wimbledon reporter that "you will play better tennis if you feel good about what you're wearing."

Serena also takes her outfits as seriously as her serve, working closely with her sponsors for each look. She raised eyebrows with a hot pink catsuit in 2011, which she wore to keep her stomach warm after suffering hematoma, and even wore a white trench coat to warm up at Wimbledon in 2008.

Anne White

At Wimbledon in 1985, Anne took 'tennis whites' to extremes with a figure-hugging spandex catsuit and royal blue paisley bandana. It proved quite a distraction to her opponent Pam Shriver, who asked officials to ban the outfit after the match was postponed due to bad light. Unfortunately, Anne lost in the third set the next day, though her outfit is still widely regarded as one of the most iconic fashion statements in tennis thirty years later.

Andy Murray

With his comfortable, loose-fitting clothes and wild hair, Scottish tennis sensation Andy Murray has always been humbler in the style stakes than his rivals. In an interview with sports brand Head, Maria Sharapova even suggested that he should hire a tailor and opt for a slicker, European look on court. In recent years he seems to have had a makeover, with help from his sponsorships with Adidas and Head, and he even made it to the shortlist for the Scottish Fashion Icon Award in 2013.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands

Known as the 'Lady Gaga of Tennis', American player Bethanie once donned a fringed bomber jacket decorated with spray-painted tennis balls cut in half designed by Lady Gaga's dressmaker at Wimbledon in 2009. Bethanie has had run-ins with tennis officials on multiple occasions, wearing warpaint at Wimbledon, receiving a fine at the 2005 US Open for wearing a striped cowboy hat, and went against health and safety advice by wearing chandelier earrings at Wimbledon in 2006. Bethanie's commitment to making a style statement knows no bounds, seemingly.

Maria Sharapova

While she is more known for her success as a world class tennis player, Sharapova has made waves in the fashion world with her own collection at Nike, designing shoes and handbags for lifestyle brand Cole Haan and an endorsement with jewellery designer Tiffany. Her most sensational look was the 1920s style Nike 'Paris' dress she wore to the 2008 French Open, which was adorned with Tiffany pearl buttons down the back.

Roger Federer

Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer has courted a lot of attention with his previous outfit choices, opting for a distinctive all-black ensemble at the US Open in 2007, man bags accented with gold lamé and his unforgettable white tuxedo in Wimbledon last year. He has previously admitted that his sponsorship with Nike means that he plans his tennis outfits around one and a half years in advance. Like the Williams sisters, he has rubbed shoulders with Vogue editor Anna Wintour, spotted sitting beside her at Marc Jacobs' show in New York Fashion Week last year. Never one to gush, the First Lady of Fashion was asked by a reporter what her favourite sportswear is, to which she replied: "Anything that Roger wears."