Maria Sharapova Will Return to U.S. Open Wearing a Riccardo Tisci-Designed Tennis Dress
After serving a 15-month doping suspension, Maria Sharapova is set to make her first U.S. Open appearance next week — and she’s planning on doing it in style.
The former world No. 1 tennis pro will be outfitted in a chic little black (tennis) dress, designed in collaboration with Riccardo Tisci and Nike for her evening matches during the Grand Slam. According to Vogue, the dress features technical lace, eyelet-like perforations and Swarovski crystals. It also comes with a matching bomber jacket.
There’s a meaningful reason behind the dark hue, which quite literally the opposite of the typical white tennis garb: in 2006, Maria won the U.S. Open wearing a black dress.
“It was always going to be black,” 30-year-old Sharapova, who is currently ranked 148th in the world, told Vogue. “When I think of anywhere that I play, I want to bring a sense of elegance to the feeling that I have when I walk onto the court. That’s what I felt with the 2006 dress, and what I really wanted to relive in this dress is the moment of elegance and thinking of Audrey Hepburn and her classic Givenchy dress.”
Of the look, Tisci told Vogue he was “very happy” with the outcome. “It is very modern and pure. Everything is very geometric. The lace looks like the classic fishnet they use on tennis outfits, and the shape, the design is very pure. It’s very elegant, very minimal but at the same time very strong,” he said.
The partnership between the trio isn’t entirely surprising — Sharapova has been with Nike for more than 10 years, extending her contract by eight years for a whopping $70 million in 2010. And though Nike did cut the partnership short in 2016 following the doping scandal (Maria tested positive for the banned substance meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open, but she maintained she had been taking the drug for a decade to treat various health issues), they brought her back on after the Court of Arbitration for Sport cut Sharapova’s two-year ban to 15 months, stating it did not believe the tennis player’s doping was intentional.
Tisci, too, has collaborated with the sportswear giant in the past, first in 2014 with a special AF1 collection, and later in 2016 on a Dunk Lux High shoe and an athletic apparel collection with NikeLab.
Sharapova’s entire Tisci x Nike ensemble will be available for purchase on Aug. 26 in Nike stores, with the dress priced at $500 and the jacket at $700.
 dress, designed in collaboration with Riccardo Tisci and Nike for her evening matches during the Grand Slam. According to Vogue, the dress features technical lace, eyelet-like perforations and Swarovski crystals. It also comes with a matching bomber jacket.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYJGOeRjH8n/?hl=en&taken-by=mariasharapova
There's a meaningful reason behind the dark hue, which quite literally the opposite of the typical white tennis garb: in 2006, Maria won the U.S. Open wearing a black dress.
"It was always going to be black," 30-year-old Sharapova, who is currently ranked 148th in the world, told Vogue. "When I think of anywhere that I play, I want to bring a sense of elegance to the feeling that I have when I walk onto the court. That’s what I felt with the 2006 dress, and what I really wanted to relive in this dress is the moment of elegance and thinking of Audrey Hepburn and her classic Givenchy dress."
Of the look, Tisci told Vogue he was "very happy" with the outcome. "It is very modern and pure. Everything is very geometric. The lace looks like the classic fishnet they use on tennis outfits, and the shape, the design is very pure. It’s very elegant, very minimal but at the same time very strong," he said.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYJUJNknmQt/?taken-by=riccardotisci17
The partnership between the trio isn't entirely surprising — Sharapova has been with Nike for more than 10 years, extending her contract by eight years for a whopping $70 million in 2010. And though Nike did cut the partnership short in 2016 following the doping scandal (Maria tested positive for the banned substance meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open, but she maintained she had been taking the drug for a decade to treat various health issues), they brought her back on after the Court of Arbitration for Sport cut Sharapova's two-year ban to 15 months, stating it did not believe the tennis player's doping was intentional.
Tisci, too, has collaborated with the sportswear giant in the past, first in 2014 with a special AF1 collection, and later in 2016 on a Dunk Lux High shoe and an athletic apparel collection with NikeLab.
Sharapova's entire Tisci x Nike ensemble will be available for purchase on Aug. 26 in Nike stores, with the dress priced at $500 and the jacket at $700.){kind=link}