John McEnroe

A wardrobe tribute to the great man himself that may prove he possibly was the ultimate 80s casual style, influencer because  without him Sergio Tacchini would not have made it to the casual arena at the sales and premium brand level they had gone on to achieve. In modern day context McEnroe was a rock god or football fashion icon with an army of 80s football terrace casuals and street break-dancers who were wearing his clothes!

Featured below are some of the key tops that saw McEnroe build the leading casuals terrace brand of the 80s. We have struck up a relationship with Sergio Tacchini and have grown big enough as a specialist to be able to select comeback styles purely for our customers. The likes of Nick Love,  The Business and The Firm have helped ignite the desire to own some great retro 80s Sergio Tacchini and John McEnroe .

The Sergio Tacchini Star track top was a very popular 80s classic and was a huge hit with 80s Casuals. Back in 2007 it was the most requested re-release we had ever featured. Popular colours that got the go ahead have been Navy/White, White/Navy (as per McEnroe image) and Royal Blue/White.

Back in the day this was a key style seen on terrace casuals, The Firm film. Newer colours that made a return 3 years later were White/Royal/Red, a newer Navy/White, Yellow/Navy, Sky/Red and Red/White to finish. This iconic track top has always been well received with customers online and instores alike.

He also liked his fame too much. He dated Chris Evert and ‘a Miss World’ followed by string of other beauties, he gained 20lbs in weight at the beginning of 1975 due to his playboy lifestyle. This reflected in him losing all 3 of the Grand Slam finals he played in, against 3 opponents he should have beaten easily. He partly made up for this by winning the unique 2 Las Vegas challenge matches against Laver & Newcombe. These were tennis’ first million dollar winner takes all matches. The two challenge matches captured the imagination of the public especially in the US, tennis was well and truly in its ‘Golden era’ and Connors was its main star. While tennis fans enjoyed Connors' gritty style and his never-say-die attitude, they often were shocked by his antics.

His sometimes appalling on-court behavior, like giving the finger to a linesman after disagreeing with a call did not help his approval rating. Connors, never played the self-promotion game or, to be more exact, he never played it well. Though he became a crowd favourite, he was even referred to as ‘The People’s Champion’. From 1982 onwards, he alienated a lot of tennis insiders along the way.

If Jimmy didn’t like you, you knew it. And he didn’t like a lot of people. During the early part of his career, Connors frequently argued with umpires, linesmen, the players union, Davis Cup officials and other players. He was even booed at Wimbledon -- a rare show of disapproval there for snubbing the Parade of Champions on the first day of the Centenary in 1977.

In this time Connors went from one clothing sponsor to the next as they couldn’t keep up with his demands. He started his career being sponsored by Fred Perry, followed by Sergio Tacchini and then moving onto Robert Bruce JC. He finally settled with Cerruti 1881 in 1980 with a 4 year sponsorship deal. This was the most expensive tennis clothing of its day and to this day Cerutti 1881 still haven’t done a remake and then once again in the twilight stages of his career he reverted back to Robert Bruce JC. After being a supporting act to Borg and McEnroe from 1979 thru 1981, ‘Jimbo’ returned to being the number 1 tennis player in the world  in 1982 after winning his 2nd Wimbledon title and his 4th US Open crown. This was partly helped by Bjorn Borg retiring from the game at the end of 1981. Connors had suddenly become what seemed like overnight ‘The People’s Champion’. From being the crowd’s villain to a huge hero of the game. He continued to gain popularity in the tennis world with what seemed like one heroic match after the other, climaxing with his unforgettable run to the US open semi-finals in 1991 at the grand old age of 39.

He finally stopped playing on the Men’s circuit at the end of 1992. Looking back on his long career it’s widely accepted he wasn’t the best player of all time, but he certainly was its most important and exciting. Connors is releasing his autobiography next year and it’s very eagerly anticipated as there are very few players that are able to say that they were at the top of their sport for 20 years! Even to this day, approaching his 60th birthday on 2nd Sept 2012 he is still playing and competing in exhibitions against the likes of Agassi, Sampras & Courier all 20 years his junior. A quite remarkable achievement by a very remarkable player, whom is the one and only James Scott Connors.

Sergio Tacchini Dallas track top another McEnroe track that was huge with casuals and seen previously on Danny Dyer donning both the Navy and Sky versions in the hit film The Business serving up a huge reminder to 80s casuals of this popular track top.

More recent re-issues have been in White, Sky and Navy then we exclusively clinched a Royal return and a Red later in 2010 along with some matching dallas bottoms that proved a huge hit.

The Sergio Tacchini New Young Line track top, partner range to the new young line polo. This popular top had a hidden zip off sleeve, unlike recent Fila zip offs, which were concealed enabling the owner to have the track top look in its own right. The zip off sleeve became huge with 80s casuals keen to show off the many other brands who would logo sleeves and roll necks with logos kappa Lyle & Scott etc.

A 2010 comeback colour due a re-release after being a key featured style in Nick loves The Firm.

The Sergio Tacchini New Young Line Polo shirt was and still is a must for any mid 80s casual worn by McEnroe and Pat Cash whilst always in white it came with many shoulder stripe variations in some common colours. More recently re-releases were in navy and red.

The 80s colours included a silver grey, lemon yellow, sky blue, navy and royal blue variants.

Pictured are some examples of the most popular colours that were launched through 80s Casual Classics.

A very popular 80s track was the Masters with a simplistic design that accompanied the polo shirt (as pictured) now known as the Sergio Tacchini Young Line Polo its simplistic one colour stripe was a huge hit as a key casuals piece and was a huge retro comeback polo easily wearable for 35-45 year old casuals reliving this amazing era.

The track top was a huge hit especially in white but was also available in Navy/White and White/Royal stripe detail.

Another well known McEnroe polo known as the Sergio Tacchini Blow polo shirt had not been seen for many years in the classic white colour with navy and red sleeve, only the more recent Canadian/USA remakes were royal with navy blue sleeve. This may be more for tennis fans.

In 2008 a remake was finally made in a traditional cotton Sergio Tacchini retro style. The 80s original was a stretch body sock type fabric and possibly limited the wearable appeal for casuals and was kept to the tennis elite.

One of Sergio Tacchini's most popular re-releases is the Davis Cup Ghibli track as seen on McEnroe in the image with the Davis cup team writing on the front.

The UK and European re-releases have not had the USA badges on and the first release happened in 2010.