(Nadal's shows off his "traditional" new look)

In case you didn't know, there's been a lot of talk in the last few months about Rafael Nadal overhauling his image, at least as it comes to fashion on the court. He and Nike want to move away from the muscle shirt and Capri pants -- a "hunky rebel" look -- to that of a more traditional tennis player: polos and shorts.

Nike and Nadal debuted this new look at a press conference last Thursday (which involved Don King -- that's a post for later) showcasing a bright orange polo with a wide checked pattern and cuffed sleeves. Perhaps to compensate for the loss of bicep exposure, they hiked up the hemline of the Capris closer to the vicinity of his knees.

We got another glimpse of these new threads at Nike's shop on the U.S. Open grounds. The polo fits snug against the torso (we were asked to go up a size larger than usual) -- a well-executed stylistic nod to Rafa's European fashion roots -- and a refreshing change from Nike's usually blousey performance tops.

But when Rafa stepped into Arthur Ashe stadium yesterday to warm up against qualifier Bjorn Phau for their first-round match, the Spaniard wore the same blue sleeveless Nike tank and white Capris that he'd been wearing all summer. What happened?

According to an e-mail statement from Nike, Rafa didn't have enough time to fully transition into the new silhouette ("fundamentally different" from his old uniform) because of the tight schedule between the Olympics and the Open.

Too bad, we were really hoping for him to shake up this year's tournament with his new uniform. But understandable, because he's going into this major with some major titles under his belt: Toronto, Beijing, and of course Wimbledon -- all while wearing his tank and pirate pants. If it ain't broke...

Scoreline: Rafa beat Phau in straight sets, but needed two tiebreaks to do so. 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (4). --ERWIN ONG

(Photo: Getty)

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