Serena Williams was a trailblazer in more ways than one.
The all-time tennis great dominated the sport throughout her storied career, winning 23 Grand Slam women’s singles titles while amassing more than $90m in prize money alone.
The retired ace also drove the women’s’ game into an new era of athleticism, while never being afraid to push the boundaries when it came to fashion.
At the 2022 US Open — her final Grand Slam before retiring from the sport — she wore a typically iconic custom-made figure-skating dress.
Although her ability to move the fashion needle was never more the case than at the 2018 French Open, when Williams stunned fans by wearing a black catsuit as she won her first Grand Slam match since giving birth.
The former world no.1 said at the time that the outfit made her feel like a ‘warrior’, with it drawing comparisons to the Marvel film Black Panther released that year.
It was revealed in a social media post after the match that the design had helped the American to control the blood clots which had placed her life at risk after giving birth.
She shared a picture of the iconic bodysuit with the caption: “Catsuit anyone? For all the moms out there who had a tough recovery from pregnancy – here you go.
“If I can do it, so can you. Love you all!!”
But this did not go down well with all in the sport.
Later that summer, French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli announced that the tournament would be introducing a dress code to ban similar looks to the tennis legend’s.
Guidicelli said in an interview with Tennis Magazine: “I think we sometimes went too far.
“The combination of Serena this year, for example, it will no longer be accepted. You have to respect the game and the place.”
The unpopular decision even prompted the WTA to announce a rule change of their own that year, permitting players to wear leggings and by extension, catsuits.
The 42-year-old recently reflected on the famous look in an interview with CNN Sports, where she admitted she could not have foreseen the drama that would later unfold.
She said: “I didn’t know it would have such an impact.
“Here I am, just trying to be healthy, I was a new mom and just trying to be me. It was a great moment. I didn’t know it would cause such a stir.”
Williams also the argued that more consideration should have been given to the health concerns that prompted her to dress this way.
She continued: “I love wearing skirts,”
“Don’t get me wrong, they’re like my favorite thing to wear, my tennis dresses, but I wanted to make sure that my blood was always circulating and I had been in a near-death experience.
“So I think there should have been and could have been – and whether there was or not, I was in it and I wasn’t getting out of it – understanding around that whole outfit.”
Williams continued to push the fashion envelope for the remainder of her career.
In front of her adoring home crowd, she debuted the highly symbolic dress during her first round win over Danka Kovinic at the 2022 US Open.
“Inspired by figure skating competition apparel,” according to Nike’s press release, the look “incorporates a six-layer skirt, referencing Serena’s six prior Flushing titles.”
The jet-black, crystal-encrusted bodice, meanwhile, “alludes to the night sky at the tournament,” as did the matching cape-style jacket Williams wore to take her place on the court.
She also wore PE NikeCourt Flare 2 sneakers with a diamond-studded Swoosh, her initials on the medial side and solid gold lace deubrés (ornamental shoelace tags) made by the athlete’s own Serena Williams Jewelry brand.
The deubrés featured “400 hand-set diamonds in black ceramic” that spell out “Queen.”
Williams sported the incredible look weeks after announcing her decision to walk away from the sport.
In the September issue of Vogue, she announced that she was preparing to wrap up her tennis career, evolving, not retiring, into the next chapter of her life.
The then world No. 605 made it to the third round in New York but lost to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1 in what would be her last professional match.
“I thank everyone that’s here, that’s been on my side for so many years, decades, literally decades,” an emotional Williams said on court afterwards.
“It all started with my parents. They deserve everything. I’m grateful for them. These are happy tears, I guess. And I wouldn’t be Serena if it wasn’t for Venus. Thank you, Venus. She’s the only reason Serena Williams ever existed.
“It’s been a fun ride. It’s been the most incredible ride and journey I’ve ever been on in my life.”
