Serena Williams made her return to the U.S. Open in style last night, taking the tennis court in Off-White's "Queen" collab which includes the Nike x Virgil Abloh NikeCourt Flare, an all-black one-shoulder dress and tutu, and a Virgil Abloh-designed jacket that Serena wore prior to her opening round match.
Ahead of her U.S. Open return, Serena spoke about the Off-White "Queen" collection that she will wear throughout the tournament. "I have never worn a tutu. Every girl loves a tutu, or at least I do! It’s always been my dream to wear a tutu, and I can’t wait to wear it on court,” she said according to Vogue.
Abloh tells Vogue,
“When I was thinking about outfits for Serena, I was thinking about her playing the game and her aesthetic while she is. Also about the confidence that’s needed while playing at the top level of tennis,” Abloh told Vogue via email. “This is very far from a design-by-numbers project. As you can tell by her personality in her play, she’s very much involved in her aesthetic. She has a level of creativity with how she expresses herself in terms of clothing in any event, so I made everything with her logic in mind. We traded images and there was a lot of back-and-forth to get this done in short order.”
Williams, who missed last year's U.S. Open while pregnant with her daughter, defeated Poland’s Magda Linette 6-4, 6-0 to advance to the Round of 64, where she'll take on Carina Witthoft tomorrow night.