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The U.S. Open’s Most Defining On-Court Looks

Across a century of photographs, New York’s Grand Slam turned the tennis uniform into a record of who was allowed on court and how boldly a player could command it.

At the U.S. Open, the outfit has a track record of making a newsworthy entrance before the match even starts. Arthur Ashe Stadium seats nearly 24,000 people, many of whom have spent the afternoon looking at one another, and its concrete tunnel delivers each competitor onto a blue court lit with the unforgiving clarity of live television. Wimbledon gives players white and asks what they can do within it. New York has long been more invested in what the players might attempt once the lights come on.

The tournament was far less permissive when it began in Newport in 1881. Long skirts and flannel trousers upheld the appearance of a private club because that was exactly what tennis was about. As the field changed, its clothes began recording who had gained entry and how much of themselves players could bring along. The pioneers ran aplenty: Althea Gibson crossed the color line in regulation white; Billie Jean King helped secure equal prize money in 1973, wearing the same practical knits that allowed her male peers to move freely. And when night matches began in 1975, tennis acquired something it had never possessed at a major: a wardrobe designed for prime time.

The move to Flushing Meadows in 1978 enlarged that stage, and the switch to blue courts in 2005 made every color more vivid on camera. Logos grew, hemlines shifted and players learned that clothing could capture the audience with one glance, in person and on television. The photographs that follow track that change through the details that survived it: a visor turned signature, diamonds renamed by accident, a catsuit treated as controversy and a bow broad enough to delay discussion of the forehand. Together, they show how the tennis uniform stopped enforcing anonymity and became another part of the game that a player could control.

Evolution of U.S. Open On-Court Style

Helen Wills, Forest Hills

René Lacoste, Forest Hills

Althea Gibson, Forest Hills

Arthur Ashe, Forest Hills

Billie Jean King, Forest Hills

Chris Evert, Flushing Meadows

John McEnroe, Flushing Meadows

Andre Agassi, Flushing Meadows

Venus Williams, Flushing Meadows

Serena Williams, Flushing Meadows

Ivo Karlovic and the Ralph Lauren Ball Crew, Flushing Meadows

Maria Sharapova, Flushing Meadows

Venus Williams, Flushing Meadows

Roger Federer, Flushing Meadows

Rafael Nadal, Flushing Meadows

Serena Williams, Flushing Meadows

Naomi Osaka, Flushing Meadows

Coco Gauff, Flushing Meadows

Naomi Osaka, Flushing Meadows

Carlos Alcaraz, Flushing Meadows

Helen Wills, Forest Hills

Wills holds........

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