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Halfway through Wimbledon, there have been many surprises and upsets, from Nikolay Davydenko's defeat by Benjamin Becker to Marat Safin's win over Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic.

Yet tennis's chattering class can't stop commenting on Serena Williams' trench coat, Maria Sharapova's tuxedo-inspired shirt and Roger Federer's cardigan.

As the oldest tennis tournament in the world, Wimbledon is also known for enforcing a strict dress code, whereby all clothing must be predominantly white.

This is no big whoop for Canadians who belong to private clubs and are familiar with the “10-per-cent” rule (the amount of colour permitted).

According to Erwin Ong, the fashion columnist for TennisGrandstand.com, white's biggest advantage is that it reinforces formality while allowing individual interpretation.

“Because they can't do anything with colour, the more fashion-conscious players are forced to think about silhouettes,” he says from Los Angeles. But even when colour is allowed, the bottom line on today's tennis fashion is how important it is for the pros to make style statements.

The winner of this year's French Open, Ana Ivanovic, got extra ink thanks to the vibrant hue and bubbled hemline of her “Neo Red” Adidas Edge dress.

Last year, Venus Williams got an associate degree in fashion design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and uses tournaments to promote her brand EleVen, which is sold at the American retail chain Steve & Barry's. For Wimbledon, her dress boasts a distinctive “cross-my-heart” neckline.

Perhaps the freshest message, though, is one that looks to the past. At the French Open, Sharapova wore a black version of the Nike Paris dress, a clear nod to the 1920s. Her white tuxedo-style top and shorts have a similarly vintage vibe.

“You see men's-inspired looks in fashion right now so the tuxedo with shorts shows how [the trend] has carried over to tennis,” says Vancouverite Linda Hipp, who designs women's activewear under the label Lija and is creating her first tennis-specific collection for spring 2009. “You would never imagine it would translate but it's wonderful to see something new,” she says.

Or, more precisely, old-fashioned. Ong notes how male players are taking cues from icons such as Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe. “For a while, the clothes were really baggy, but now even Americans are going back to slimmer cuts.”

Of course, none of this matters if the fabrics put players at a disadvantage. Today, says Hipp, most clothing has advanced technical properties such as anti-wicking. “With tennis, you're really building up a sweat,” she says, adding that there will always be people who prefer classic cotton from the likes of Lacoste.

And don't dismiss the importance of looking good in pre-game gear. Federer, who usually sports a blazer before he plays, opted this time for a preppy cable-knit cardigan.

As the poster girl for Stella McCartney's Adidas line, Maria Kirilenko didn't disappoint when she came out on Wimbledon's grass court in a warm-up jacket with pleats that extended from an exaggerated yoke.

According to Ong, this is a new twist on traditional sports photo ops. “These [pre-game appearances] never used to be photographed at all because they weren't action shots. But now they're getting published and that, in turn, is feeding tennis fashion,” he says.

With the start of the Rogers Cup in Toronto and Montreal just three weeks away, enthusiasts can expect a whole new round of outfits. Don't be surprised to see hits of black and navy as counterpoints to white. Sure, fashion will never make a player better, faster or stronger. But as a visual bonus, you gotta love it.