Serena Williams reacts during her first round match against Russia's Vitalia Diatchenko. (Vincent Kessler/Reuters)
PARIS — One year after a French tennis official took issue with the black catsuit she wore at the 2018 French Open, Serena Williams made a strong fashion statement in her return to Roland Garros Monday.
Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, strode onto Philippe Chatrier Court in a billowy, black and white striped outfit that consisted of an asymmetrical skirt and long-sleeved blousy jacket that fluttered in the late afternoon breeze.
She had given a preview of the outfit via an Instagram post Sunday, alongside its creator, fashion designer Virgil Abloh, founder of the Milan-based label Off-White and the men’s designer at Louis Vuitton’s menswear line. It is her second Nike tennis-wear collaboration with Abloh, who designed the one-shoulder dress with a flouncy, ballet-inspired tulle skirt that Williams wore at the 2018 U.S. Open.
[Roger Federer receives a hero’s welcome at French Open, breezing in without expectations]
After a brief warm-up with her opponent, Russia’s Vitalia Diatchenko, Williams unzipped the jacket to reveal a fitted top that repeated the skirt’s striped pattern.
Williams was criticized by one French tennis official, who said after the fact that her catsuit had “gone too far” and suggested that it showed a lack of respect for the game.
Williams explained that she wore the outfit — a compression suit — largely as a medical precaution to help guard against a recurrence of blood clots that endangered her life during the birth of her first child, daughter Alexis Olympia, on Sept. 1, 2017, roughly nine months prior.
A three-time French Open champion, Williams, 37, has scarcely been seen on court this season, limited by illness and injury, so she enters the French Open amid questions about her health and fitness. She has played just nine matches, posting a 7-2 mark, after withdrawing from tournaments in Indian Wells (viral illness), Miami (left knee) and Rome (left knee).
Diatchenko, 28, is ranked 83rd in the world and has never beaten a top-10 opponent. Williams won their lone previous meeting, on the U.S. Open’s hard courts in 2015.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/05/27/serena-williams-returns-french-open-with-new-fashion-statement/
2019-05-27 16:57:04Z
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