Just when you thought playing tennis under the summer sun wasn’t hard enough. When rallies get longer, the temperature climbs, and sweat builds up, even something as simple as a shirt sticking to your back can become another distraction you really don’t need.
And if CLIMACOOL sounds familiar, there’s a reason. We recently looked at how adidas took cooling technology originally developed for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 drivers and adapted it into its CLIMACOOL SYSTEM for players at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Now the brand is turning its attention to another sport where athletes can spend hours battling the heat — tennis.
adidas has introduced CLIMACOOL+, its latest performance fabric innovation designed to help tennis players stay cool, dry and comfortable when heat, humidity and high-intensity play work against them. Rather than simply making the material thinner or adding more ventilation, adidas has changed the garment’s physical structure, using raised 3D sections to create space between the fabric and the player’s skin and to encourage airflow. The technology arrives alongside the new adidas London Collection for the 2026 grass-court season. Given how much adidas has been experimenting with cooling technology lately, CLIMACOOL+ feels like another part of a much bigger push to solve one deceptively simple problem — how do you keep an athlete comfortable when things get seriously hot?
The clever part is something you can actually see. CLIMACOOL+ uses a 3D body-mapped embossed fabric construction, with raised structures built directly into the material. Instead of a traditional flat shirt constantly sitting against the body, those raised sections create a physical gap between the player’s skin and the garment, giving air room to circulate while helping sweat evaporate. The idea is more airflow, less uncomfortable wet fabric clinging to the body and, ultimately, fewer distractions when a match starts heating up.
Those structures aren’t randomly scattered across the shirt either. adidas used physiological data and testing in its climate chamber to identify where tennis players experience the most heat and sweat build-up, then strategically mapped raised areas around the chest, upper abdomen, shoulders, and upper back. During development, adidas monitored skin temperature, humidity between the skin and garment, perceived airflow, and how much the material stuck to players as they moved.
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And according to adidas, athletes noticed the difference. Players involved in testing reported increased airflow, reduced fabric cling and greater freedom of movement during competition. That last point matters especially in tennis, where you’re constantly reaching, twisting, serving, and changing direction. A shirt might seem like a tiny part of the performance puzzle, but in a hot summer match, having less fabric sticking to you certainly isn’t going to hurt.
CLIMACOOL+ also works alongside some more familiar cooling tricks. Across the new collection, adidas uses technologies such as strategically placed mesh panels, laser-cut perforations in high-sweat areas, and underarm FreeLift construction to improve airflow while maintaining freedom of movement. So while the raised 3D fabric is the headline technology, quite a bit is happening beneath the surface.
CLIMACOOL+ is making its way onto the court through select pieces worn by some of the brand’s biggest tennis names, including Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Karolina Muchova, Maria Sakkari and Elina Svitolina. Each athlete has a bespoke silhouette designed for them, ranging from tanks and dresses to FreeLift tees and polos, while select CLIMACOOL+ pieces are also being made available to consumers in limited quantities.
The technology also appears in select pieces from the new adidas London Collection, where performance meets a touch of nostalgia. adidas has borrowed from the body-contouring shapes and V-cut necklines of 1980s and 1990s tennis apparel, then brought everything forward with metallic silver accents, Three Stripes detailing and seam-free bonded finishes.
The London Collection is rolling out globally through adidas and the adidas app during summer 2026, and it isn’t being positioned solely for professionals. The range is designed for elite athletes, everyday players, and fans, while adidas says its mix of futuristic performance technology and retro-inspired styling marks the start of a new design direction that will influence future apparel across several of the brand’s sports.
