Diamonds have always been iconic on tennis courts. In the US Open in 1987, when Chris Evert lost her diamond bracelet after a powerful swing, officials paused the match to look for it, giving rise to what we now know as the tennis bracelet. But when Aryna Sabalenka carried the iconic energy into this edition of the tournament with a stunning diamond jewelry look, fans didn’t seem to enjoy it as much.
Sabalenka likes being bold on the court with her shots as well as her fashion. To complement her fiery red and black Nike outfit, she picked striking and colorful diamond jewelry to wear as she debuted in the US Open mixed doubles event alongside Novak Djokovic.
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The jewelry has a much deeper meaning. She created them in collaboration with the brand Material Good, who have adorned her for all Grand Slams since last year’s US Open. According to Material Good’s Head of Design, Atara Lev, the suite was designed keeping in mind the vibrant mix of culture in New York.
“Lots of different people from lots of different places all over the world. The stones are reflective of that. It’s multiple different shapes, multiple different colors, and they’re sourced from all different locations in the world,” she said in an interview with Town and Country Magazine.
This was her boldest choice of on-court jewel yet, with stones sourced from Nigeria, Tanzania, Mozambique etc and is a whopping 83.20 carats. On the Material Good website, the entire collection features many other pieces, which we might be able to see on her as the tournament progresses.
Fans unhappy with Aryna Sabalenka’s choice of jewelry
All these details did not matter to fans. A fan put out a post on X that asked people to rate Aryna Sabalenka’s outfit and jewelry, and a majority of them thought that it was not the most practical choice of jewelry for a court.
“Pretentious is good word. No need for that jewelry on a tennis court. O/10 on all counts,” wrote a fan on X.
Pairing with the Nike outfit, another fan felt it looked mismatched. “Such a low effort outfit, 0/10,” they posted.
A user was displeased with the overall concept of wearing jewelry on the court and commented, “Diamond necklace on tennis court. Totally out of place. Recently many tennis players have worn jewelry as if they were going to a Ball or parties. They looked ridiculous . Hope they reconsider.”
“Not classy at all!” a fan remarked.
“Is it necessary to play with that level of jewelry?” questioned another.
The comments might sting Sabalenka even more as her pair with Djokovic faced a crushing defeat to Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten 1-4, 4-2, 10-2 in their debut match. She will now shift her focus to the main draws, which kicks off August 30 onwards.