Game . . . Set . . . Match

The tennis bracelet got its name from Chris Evert, whose bracelet of diamonds set side by side in matching prongs, fell off when she was playing at the US Open in 1987.  She requested that the match be stopped until the bracelet was found. It was, and the rest is history.

Originally called an eternity bracelet (and the big sister to the eternity band,) this style of bracelet is also called a line bracelet. Once Chris Evert drew attention to the style, line bracelets were mass manufactured using varying grades of matched diamonds, from grayish, highly included, pebble-like stones, to high white gems. Usually the bracelets are set with round brilliants, but we also see a lot of princess cut diamonds in these bracelets.  Settings are normally prong, bezel, or channel.

These days, women still love the line bracelet and fill it with black diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, tanzanite, and a host of other gems. And some designers and manufacturers are breaking the straight line of gems into staggered up-down patterns. 

The line bracelet is, to me, like a pair of diamond studs. It’s not a design story but the tennis bracelet focuses on sparkle in the case of diamonds or the display of color when using richly-hued gems. Sometimes, a good tennis bracelet adds a little texture or accent to a more complex piece or it can be mixed with the thin bangles that are so popular here in the studio.