the adidas ‘match play’ embodies key elements of the original legendary arthur ashe’s signature model. matchplay was inspired by a tennis shoe found in adidas scheinfield archive, the matchplay carries many court shoe features such as a derby cut, pimple outsole.
below: arthur ashe

arthur ashe was not only the first black man to win wimbledon, he was the name on my first pair of tennis shoe that i owned when i was 8 or so. from what little i can remember they were quite basic and simple, like stan smiths but with a slightly off whitish leather, red tabs and yellow text, which was what made them different than the stan smith clan. playing on damp clay courts in the hot summers of 78 made the soft white leather slightly reddish in color. this was a nice added touch for those avid clay fans not to mention projecting a rather self important image at age 8… seeing the stan smith post i searched for these vintage babies with no luck. best i could come up with was this. the adidas “match play”s. no mention of ashe on the shoe yet they come up under the search… some background: arthur ashe was the winner of US open 68, australian open 70, french open 71, wimbledon 75, australian open 77. by tm