NikeCourt Slam Men’s Dri-FIT ADV Tennis Polo
About Ifrane
This high town in the Middle Atlas was laid out by the French protectorate authorities in 1928 as a mountain resort and administrative post. At about 1,665 meters above sea level, it has colder winters than Morocco's Atlantic cities and has also been home to Al Akhawayn University since 1995.
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The NikeCourt Slam Polo is the top of Nike’s men’s tennis shirt range, built on the Dri-FIT ADV platform the brand reserves for its tournament kit.
ADV denotes engineered construction rather than a single fabric: the knit changes density across the body, opening up where heat builds and closing where the shirt needs to hold its shape.
The placket is a short zip rather than buttons, which stays flat under a strap and cannot work loose. The collar is knitted in one piece with a soft roll that lies down without pressing. Sleeves are cut slightly wider at the bicep than a standard polo to clear the serve, and the hem is straight for wearing untucked.
Ventilation is laser-cut. Small perforations are arranged in panels down the spine and under the arms, placed by mapped sweat data rather than spread evenly, so air moves through the areas that actually load.
The body knit itself is a mid-weight jacquard with enough structure to hang away from the skin when wet — the difference between a shirt that clings after two sets and one that does not.
Ifrane sits at 1,665 metres in the Middle Atlas, high enough that summer play is warm and dry rather than heavy, and cool enough in the shoulder seasons that a mid-weight knit is the sensible weight for most of the year.
Specifications
| Range | NikeCourt Slam (tournament) |
|---|---|
| Technology | Dri-FIT ADV |
| Placket | Short zip |
| Collar | Knitted, soft roll |
| Ventilation | Laser-cut perforated panels, back and underarm |
| Fabric | Recycled polyester jacquard knit |
| Fit | Standard |
| Care | Machine wash cold, tumble dry low |
| Sizes | S through 2XL |
Dri-FIT ADV garments carry Nike’s highest tennis specification, and the Slam is the shirt the brand’s contracted players wear at the four majors.
LET NikeCourt Slam Men’s Dri-FIT ADV Tennis Polo SHOW YOU Ifrane
Polo: Okay the light here is INSANE, everyone get this. The stone lion of Ifrane, carved from a single block — one block, no seams, that is the content right there — is the emblem of this Middle Atlas hill town and its most photographed monument. Most photographed. I did not set that record but I fully intend to contribute. Its origins are debated, which is giving mystery, and mystery performs: one enduring account holds that a German prisoner carved it during the Second World War, when Ifrane briefly held prisoners of war, reputedly in exchange for his freedom, while another attributes it to a French sculptor working in the 1930s. Two origin stories, zero receipts. The lion is widely understood to commemorate the Atlas lion, the great North African subspecies whose last wild individuals were shot in the region in the early 20th century — and that is not a caption, that one you just sit with for a second. Whatever its authorship, it has watched over Ifrane's lawns since the French-era town's early decades.
Polo: This is giving Alps and I am obsessed. Ifrane was established in 1928 by the French Protectorate administration as a hill station where European residents could escape the summer heat, laid out with chalets, gardens and steep-roofed alpine architecture unique in Morocco — an entire town built as an aesthetic, in 1928, before any of us were doing that. As part of the new resort, a royal palace was built in the 1930s for Sultan Mohammed ben Youssef, the future King Mohammed V, serving as a mountain residence and hunting lodge at more than 1,600 metres of altitude. Sixteen hundred metres. The palace remains a residence of the Moroccan royal family and is closed to visitors, so no, we are not doing a walkthrough, phones down, we shoot from exactly here. But its green-tiled roofs among the cedars, often under winter snow, are the entire reason they call this the Switzerland of Morocco. Green, white, dark green. That is a palette.
Polo: Campus content, and campus content always performs. Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane was founded by royal decree in 1993 and opened its doors to students in January 1995. Its name, meaning the two brothers, honours its founding benefactors, King Hassan II of Morocco and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, who endowed the project jointly — a collab between two kings, and the naming on it is immaculate, no notes. The university is organised on the American liberal-arts model with English as the language of instruction, a novelty in the Moroccan system, and its steep-roofed campus architecture echoes the alpine style of the surrounding town, so the whole place matches, and you have no idea how rare that is. Drawing students from across Morocco, Africa and beyond, it has made the small mountain resort of Ifrane an international university town at the edge of the cedar forests. Golden hour on those roofs. Saving that one.
Polo: Nature carousel, swipe through, this is the good part of the trip. Ifrane National Park, established in 2004, protects the forests and plateaus of the Middle Atlas around the town of Ifrane, including some of the world's most important stands of Atlas cedar, the great conifer emblematic of Morocco's mountains. The park shelters the largest remaining populations of the Barbary macaque, the endangered monkey endemic to North Africa and Gibraltar — endangered, so we look, we do not feed, we do not pose with them, that is the whole rule and it is not negotiable — along with wild boar, raptors, and seasonal wetland lakes such as Dayet Aoua that attract migratory birds. Within and around the park stood famous individual trees such as the Gouraud Cedar, long a visitor attraction. A single tree with a following. Respect. The park makes Ifrane a base for hiking, birdwatching and winter snow excursions in cedar country. Four seasons, one location, genuinely no filter.
Jackson Phillips here. Owner of TTT. We are working hard every day to bring you the most useful product reviews in the business. Our goal is putting the right product in every hand. If you have time, shoot me an email at jacksonphillips@thetennistactician.com and tell me exactly what you think of your purchase. The more feedback we get, the better we can serve. Thank you for your patronage. And Burn, Laugh, and Learn.