Look of the Week: Ariel Behar's wacky koala shirts were created by wife's fashion brand

There have been many great Australian Open outfits that have hit the courts at Melbourne Park during this topsy-turvy fortnight—and we covered 10 of the best in last week’s Style Points roundup.

But once the doubles competition kicked off Down Under, there was only one kit that kept tennis fans talking:

The matching koala-themed shirts by Lala Sportswear spotted on doubles duo Ariel Behar and Adam Pavlasek.

The brand was actually founded by Behar’s wife, Sabrina Sielicki, as a women’s fashion company—but Lala Sportswear pivoted in 2020, when the player found himself without any apparel sponsors and with an offer he just couldn’t refuse.

“My then-girlfriend—now my wife—asked me if I would be keen to wear her brand to play tennis, because I had no sponsors,” Behar said in 2023. “I had nobody to dress me up, and she was up for that.

“She created a new brand to dress me up with any (design) that she creates… and of course I said yes from the start.”

According to Sielicki: “It started as a joke, and then it became my job.”

The 34-year-old once described himself as a “plain gray guy”, but now his tennis outfits are turning heads around the world. Last year, he wore a shirt with a llama during his trip Down Under, and at the US Open, he and partner Pavlasek wore matching pink shirts featuring Boston terrier dogs with heart-shaped sunglasses.

Other Lala designs to hit the courts include various jellyfish—including an Uruguay flag version and rainbow flag editions—in addition to bears, octopuses and aliens wearing crowns.

“Every tournament (fans) come to me and ask how they can get the shirts or shorts,” Behar said. “People are really interested in the brand… I’m being sent pictures and videos from social media and I think people are really fond of the (designs).”

Behar, who reached the men’s doubles quarterfinals with Pavlasek in Melbourne, says that the attention-grabbing outfits always give him a bit of extra motivation when he goes on court:

“If I do well and I’m successful, or if the TV or social media makes it bigger, it’s better for her. So I don’t care, I’ll wear whatever she puts me in.”