Serena Williams Wore a Lavender Tutu and Fishnets to Win Her Second U.S. Open Match

On Wednesday night, Serena Williams won her second match (opens in new tab) at the U.S. Open against German pro Carina Witthöft. Williams wore another tutu, this time a one-shoulder lavender piece, also from the Virgil Abloh x Nike for Serena Williams (opens in new tab) line. Underneath her tutu ensemble, she wore a pair of black fishnet tights. Several Twitter users pointed out that this pair could be compression tights (opens in new tab)—a type of footwear she's worn numerous times (opens in new tab) in the past to prevent blood clots.

In an interview with NPR, Williams revealed that she suffered post-pregnancy complications—blood clots in her lungs (opens in new tab)— and that she nearly died from the experience. "I've had a lot of problems with my blood clots, God I don't know how many I've had in the past 12 months," she said at a May conference (opens in new tab). "I've been wearing pants in general a lot when I play so I can keep the blood circulation going."

Hence the famous catsuit (opens in new tab) she wore back in May at the French Open. Since then, however, The French Tennis Federation president, Bernard Giudicelli, announced a controversial catsuit ban (opens in new tab) from future French Opens. Williams gracefully addressed Giudicelli's comments (opens in new tab) over the weekend and said, "Everything’s fine, guys," while sharing she found other ways, a.k.a. the black tights, to address her health issues.

At the U.S. Open on Monday (opens in new tab), where Williams won her first match, she wore a black tutu from the Nike x Virgil collab, Nike trainers, and her fishnet compression tights (opens in new tab).

Don't worry. Nothing will keep Williams down.