It was the 2004 US Open. Serena Williams was the third seed at the tournament and one of the favorites for the title. Before the tournament, the American star had partnered with Nike to wear the brand’s apparel at the tournament.

It was a special outfit for Serena which has gone on to become one of her favorite outfits she wore on the tennis court. Recently, she described the outfit she wore at the 2004 US Open.

Serena Williams opens up about her ‘special’ 2004 US Open outfit

In a video released by Vogue, Serena reminisces about some of the special moments in her life. One of those moments came at the US Open in 2004 when Serena wore a denim outfit. Talking about that, she said, “This is when Nike was introduced. I think of all the outfits I wear, and they say, “What was your favorite?” This one is always top three.”

Further, she added, “I remember telling Nike, “If I’m switching to you guys from Puma, I wanted more pizazz.” And I said, “I love what Andre Agassi wore when he wore the jeans shorts. I wanna wear a jeans skirt.” And so we designed this great jeans skirt, and it was a jean fabric, but it was very light, ’cause it had to be able to perform.”

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Talking about her shoes, Serena said, “Then this amazing designer’s name was Owen, his name is Owen, he’s still at Nike, he designed the best shoes I’ve ever seen in my life, and he wanted me to wear a boot. I was like a boot? He was like, yeah, but then you can zip ’em off, and when you play, you play in the shoe. When this outfit debuted, I was sealed as a fashion icon in tennis. And since that day everyone was always looking for, okay, what is Serena gonna wear on the court?” 

How did Serena perform at the 2004 US Open?

The American legend was entering her ‘home’ Grand Slam tournament as one of the favorites to lift the title. Earlier that year, she had finished as the runners-up at Wimbledon. She had reached the quarterfinals of the US Open that year and was up against her compatriot, Jennifer Capriati, in the last-eight clash.

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Although she started the match on the front foot, winning the first set, Capriati came back strongly to win the next two sets to defeat Serena in the quarterfinals of the 2004 US Open.