PP makes three kinds of shorts for men, and it helps to say at once which is which. PP linen shorts are for dry land: the lunch, the street, the terrace. PP natural swim shorts are for the water. PP Tennis Shorts are for sport, and they are the subject of this guide. They belong to the PP Natural Tennis Collection, alongside the PP Tennis Shirt and the PP Natural Tennis Set, and they rest on a simple proposition: that a natural cloth can be played in, as it was for most of the game's history.

The facts first. PP Tennis Shorts are linen, fastened with walnut buttons, as the house's shorts and trousers are. The tennis collection works in certified Belgian linen, with one exception that the house states plainly: the PP Natural Tennis Set in Pink is natural linen. The PP Tennis Shorts in Roosewood Pink are Belgian linen. The shorts come in seven colourways, White, Oyster, Vanille, Oatmeal, Black, Sapphire Blue and Roosewood Pink, and in sizes from S to 4XL. PP's garments are handmade in the Dubai atelier and in Belgium.

How linen behaves in play is the question most people bring to these shorts. Flax fibre absorbs perspiration readily and releases it to the air, so the cloth does not lie wet against the leg through a long set, and it lets air pass. It grows softer with each wash. What linen has very little of is stretch, and this is the one thing to understand before choosing a pair: in a linen short, freedom of movement comes from room in the cut and not from give in the cloth.

That has a direct consequence for size. A player who is between two sizes should take the larger. The test is not standing in front of a mirror but a full lunge and a deep bend at the knee, as for a low volley; nothing should pull across the seat or the thigh. The tennis shorts begin at S, a size below the PP linen shorts, and run to 4XL. The size charts on the house's website give the measurements, and they are worth reading against a pair already owned and trusted on court.

Colour on a tennis court is partly a matter of rules. Some clubs keep an all-white or predominantly white dress code, the Championships at Wimbledon being the famous case, and many private clubs in Europe and the Gulf have a version of it. For those, White is the colourway. Oyster, Vanille and Oatmeal are warm, pale tones in the same family; whether they satisfy a particular club's definition of white is for the club to say, and worth asking before the first booking. Where there is no rule, Black, Sapphire Blue and Roosewood Pink are open to anyone.

The shorts can be bought alone or as part of the PP Natural Tennis Set, which pairs them with the PP Tennis Shirt in a single colourway: White, Oyster, Vanille, Oatmeal or Pink. A detail of the set deserves notice. Shirt and shorts are sized separately, each from S to 4XL, so a player who is broad in the shoulder and narrow at the waist, or the reverse, is not obliged to compromise on either. The PP Tennis Shirt is also offered by itself in White, Oyster, Vanille and Oatmeal, which allows a pale shirt over Black or Sapphire Blue shorts.

Off the court the shorts continue to be useful, and this is where linen has a clear social advantage: it looks like clothing and not like kit. After a morning's play, with a fresh Laos Short Sleeve Linen Shirt in a matching or contrasting colourway, the same shorts are appropriate for the club terrace and for lunch. The same holds for padel, and for the hours at a resort when a game might or might not happen. For swimming, change into PP natural swim shorts; the tennis shorts are kept for sport and for dry land.

Care after play is straightforward and should not be postponed. Perspiration leaves salts in any fibre, and they are easier to remove the same day. Wash at 30°C on a gentle cycle with a mild detergent, reshape while damp and dry in the air, flat or on a line, out of fierce direct sun. Clay dust should be brushed off dry before washing, since wetting it first sets the colour into the weave. Grass marks respond to prompt treatment with cool water. A warm iron on the linen setting while the cloth is still slightly damp restores a crisp line for those who want one; the walnut buttons are a natural material, and the shorts are kept out of the tumble dryer altogether.

The shorts will crease in play and in the kit bag, as all linen does, and after a few washes the creases soften into the character of the cloth. The companion guide to the PP Tennis Shirt covers the other half of the set. What remains here is a pair of shorts in a natural fibre with natural buttons, biodegradable by design, that does its work on the court and is at ease away from it.

Linen for Tennis  ·  What to Wear at the Tennis Club  ·  PP Linen Shorts: A Guide