The story behind Serena Williams’ Australian Open one-legged catsuit

With an impressive 76-1 win/loss record in the first round of majors, to see Serena Williams advance to the second round of the Australian Open will not be surprising news to many. Her choice of attire on Monday was more striking though, and had a retro feel some athletics fans will have recognised.

The 23-time major winner delivered in the fashion stakes yet again during her 6-1 6-1 dispatching of Laura Siegemund, by debuting a long-sleeved, one-legged colourful catsuit inspired by 1980s sprint icon Florence Griffith Joyner.

Joyner, who remains the fastest woman in history and won three golds at the 1988 Olympics, was known for her attention-grabbing catsuits and nail art during her time on the track. Williams said post-match that she had taken direct inspiration from the fellow California native for her own asymmetric unitard.

“I was inspired by FloJo, who was a wonderful track athlete when I was growing up,” Williams said. “Watching her fashion, just always changing, her outfits were always amazing. This year we thought of what can we do to keep elevating Serena Williams on the court.

“The Nike team actually thought of this design of inspiration from FloJo. I was like, Oh, my God, this is so brilliant. That’s where we started. Obviously we made some changes and tweaks to it. It became this.”

Williams will face world No 99 Nina Stojanovic in the second round on Wednesday, aiming for her eighth Australian Open title and first in Melbourne since 2017. 

As her quest for a record 24 grand slam titles continues, Williams’s penchant for creative on-court outfits remains. Over her three-decade career she has pushed the dress code beyond the traditional in tennis, a cape and tutu just two examples of her more recent sartorial choices, but they are not all style over substance. 

She has previously opted for leggings and long sleeves because of her susceptibility to blood clots. The health issue left her close to death on two occasions – most recently causing complications during the birth of her first child Alexis Olympia Ohanian in 2017 – and compression tights, leggings or sleeves have been included in Williams’s outfits to aid blood flow.

The adaptation has attracted controversy in the past however, particularly at the French Open, when Williams made her 2018 post-partum return to grand slam tennis. Her black unitard drew widespread attention and “superhero” comparisons, but it prompted French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli to implement a ban on the outfit, saying: “One must respect the game and the place.” 

Giudicelli’s comments saw huge backlash though as Williams defended the practical elements to her style decision, and the WTA supported her choice by adding leggings to their dress code rules for 2019.