It’s been a perfect year for sports, from the Winter Olympics to Formula 1 to the NBA Finals and the World Cup. But no summer in New York would be complete without the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, landing at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, beginning Aug. 23.

The tournament will once again be a continuation of tennis style and its long-standing connection to fashion. Tennis has always been a summer fashion story, and with the U.S. Open entering its 145th year, its style profile continues to yield some of sport’s best style moments — from star players to pedestrians.

In the 1970s, Calvin Klein led the way in making tennis style a fashion strategy, with his eye for modern ease and movement. His spring 1976 and 1977 collections were perfect for the era’s off-court street style. Integrating traditional jumper dresses, shorts, skorts and T-shirts that, as WWD noted at the time, could “score net gains” proved tennis was a viable brand-building category for fashion.

Other Seventh Avenue names getting in on the game included Halston, Ralph Lauren, Geoffrey Beene, Stephen Burrows, Perry Ellis and tennis legend Billie Jean King. King’s collection, endorsed by the Head sports brand, launched and sold at Bloomingdale’s in 1973.

Borrowed from tradition or not, the era marked the beginning of something refreshed and modern, laying the foundation for today’s multibillion-dollar athleisure category. Unboxed from the WWD archives are 20 looks from Calvin Klein’s summer 1976 and spring 1977 tennis-inspired ready-to-wear collections, perfectly suited for courtside style and still capable of making a statement today.