Australian Open 2012: Grading the New Top Player Gear at the Open

The Australian Open is the first Grand Slam event of the year, so with that usually comes a whole bunch of new gear from some of the top companies in the game.

The best stuff is usually from the game's top players, like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Andy Roddick.

There was a lot of great new stuff at this year's Open, but there were a couple of things that were not so good.

Here is a breakdown and grades for the new player gear.

All Photos Courtesy of Tenniswarehouse.com Unless Otherwise Noted

Roger Federer's New Wilson BLX Pro Staff 6.1 90

Roger Federer has been with Wilson since the beginning, but he has always been using a Pro Staff with a 90-inch head.

Since Pete Sampras left the game, Wilson has dropped the Pro Staff name and has moved to just calling the racket whatever version it was with 6.1 at the end.

For the first time since adapting the "6.1" label, Wilson has finally brought back the Pro Staff name.

The stick isn't much different than those from the past, but it is a class nonetheless.

Grade: A

Roger Federer's Nike Vapor 9 Tour

Nike always releases its new Roger Federer shoes at the start of the new season.

This season, it has moved on from its typical color choices to go with a more shocking lime green.

These shoes seem to be a departure from what we have expected from the Federer line, as they seem to be more like what Rafael Nadal typically has.

Grade: B

Roger Federer's Nike Smash Polo

The classiest guy on the court is always Roger Federer.

At Grand Slams, he always seems to sport the polo, a style that many competitors have dumped over the years.

Federer's polo is clean, with cool shades of red and black.

The coolest part though is the RF logo at the bottom of the buttons.

Grade: A

Serena Williams' Nike Air Max Mirabella 3

Many must have been shocked to see Nike release such a calm line from Serena Williams this season.

Typically, she has outrageous outfits, but her shoes have never been that crazy.

This season's shoe is pretty bland once again, and it won't have many running out to get the latest from Miss Williams.

Grade: C

Rafael Nadal's Nike Air Court Ballistic 4.3

Nike knows that Rafael Nadal's gear is perhaps the biggest selling at this point in time, so it really goes all out in giving him the flashiest shoes possible.

These ones go along the Australian Open colors as well, but they feature a lot less lime green than Roger Federer's.

Nadal's shoe continues to develop, as this year, Nike made the shoe more similar to its Breathe Free model.

Grade: A

Rafael Nadal's Nike Final Crew

Nike has finally been able to consistently get Rafael Nadal to dump the sleeveless shirts for a more marketable crew shirt, and these ones are pretty sweet.

The shirt just has a small Rafa bull logo on the bottom of the crew. The design makes for an attractive shirt, as it isn't too flashy with just some stripes of blue throughout.

Grade: A

Andy Murray's Adidas Barricade 7

Honestly, Andy Murray's new Adidas Barricade shoes look a lot like kicks that the Florida Gators would wear.

The Barricade line really hasn't departed from its roots with the last few models, but these ones don't really have the best colors.

Hopefully we will get some better ones later on in the season.

Grade: C+

Andy Murray's Adidas Barricade Crew

While its shoes were not that great, Adidas has a winner here with Andy Murray's Barricade crew.

Over the last few years, the three stripes have been putting out some better gear in terms of shirts compared to Adidas' biggest competitor, Nike.

This is another great one from Adidas, and it will likely be a big hit after the tournament comes to a close.

Grade: A

Andy Roddick's Babolat Pure Drive Roddick

Andy Roddick's new signature Babolat racket—I'm still bewildered he has a signature stick over Rafael Nadal—has taken its design back to the class look of the Pure Drive.

This model is a little heavier compared to the standard Pure Drive to fit Roddick's game, so it isn't for everybody.

It will remain to be seen if Roddick's name will be enough to be a selling point, but he was looking good until he got hurt against Lleyton Hewitt.

Grade: B

Andy Roddick's Babolat Pro Pulse 3

Babolat didn't go with a redesign for its Pro Pulse 3 shoes, but the color scheme is pretty sweet if you ask me.

The green strap looks great atop the black shoe with the bits of blue all over the shoe.

These are once again an Andy Roddick Pro model.

Grade: A

Novak Djokovic's Sergio Tacchini Polo

The World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has been bringing new life to the Sergio Tacchini brand, and it has been giving him some really sweet stuff over the last two years.

This season, its polo with just bright "electrical" looking circles on the side looks pretty crazy.

Djokovic is playing well, and he is doing so in style.

Grade: A