Before Taylor Townsend hit a single ball against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka Sunday, she had already won one part of the match: the entrance.
Townsend walked into Arthur Ashe Stadium in a floor-length black hooded coat dripping with sparkling fringe. Beneath it was an equally dramatic black tennis dress with a mesh bodice, rhinestone-trimmed zipper and sparkling beads over a pleated skirt.
It was glamorous, sexy and impossible to miss.
It was also striking because Townsend doesn’t have the body type women’s tennis has traditionally put on fashion billboards. At 5-foot-7, she has a fuller, muscular build that stands apart from the tall, lean image long associated with many of the sport’s biggest female stars.
And Townsend knows better than almost anyone what it means to have her body judged.
At 16, she was the No. 1 junior girl in the world, yet the U.S. Tennis Association questioned her fitness and declined to pay her expenses to compete at the U.S. Open. Her mother paid instead. Former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport publicly protested the treatment, saying an athlete shouldn’t be punished for her body type.
The episode followed Townsend into adulthood and raised questions that have never completely gone away about who gets to look like a tennis star — and, just as importantly, who companies believe can sell tennis clothes.
Fourteen years later, Townsend is 30, the No. 2 doubles player in the world, a three-time Grand Slam doubles champion and has reached the U.S. Open Round of 16 in singles for the second straight year.
Yet she still doesn’t have a major clothing sponsor.
She Got Tired of Waiting
Townsend’s Nike apparel deal ended in 2017. She has said players who have accomplished less than she has are dressed head-to-toe by major brands while she and her representatives have struggled to secure another apparel deal.
She isn’t without sponsorship. Yonex supplies her tennis equipment, and civil rights attorney Ben Crump’s law firm has sponsored Townsend with an on-court patch — an unusual pairing that has brought additional attention to both.
But when it came to clothes, Townsend finally stopped waiting.
She began developing TT by Taylor Townsend, working with designers and her creative team to create her own looks. At this year’s U.S. Open, she arrived in a different custom outfit for every singles round, playing with color, buckles, fringe, dramatic coverups and accessories.
Townsend’s black Sabalenka look may have been the showstopper.
And her timing could hardly be better.
Tennis Has Become a Fashion Runway
Fashion has always been part of tennis, but increasingly the show begins before the player ever removes her coverup.
The jacket matters. The shoes matter. The bag matters. Hair, jewelry and accessories matter. Even the walk onto the court has become part of the presentation.
And Black women have been among the sport’s most influential fashion disruptors.
Venus and Serena Williams began attracting attention with their beaded braids when they entered professional tennis, then spent decades challenging ideas about what women were supposed to wear on court.
Serena’s fashion became an event of its own. There was the black catsuit at the 2018 French Open, the Virgil Abloh tutu, and the crystal-covered dress and cape she wore for her 2022 U.S. Open farewell.
She is still doing it.
When Serena returned to play doubles with Venus at this year’s U.S. Open, she warmed up in a cropped black letterman-style jacket with “Serena” across the back and references to her U.S. Open championship years down the sleeves. Underneath, the sisters wore coordinated white outfits and carried pink tennis bags.
Then there is Naomi Osaka, who has taken the tennis entrance to another level.
At the 2024 U.S. Open, Osaka made headlines with oversized bows, ruffles and matching accessories. Since then, her Grand Slam wardrobes have become almost theatrical.
This year, Osaka walked into Arthur Ashe Stadium wearing a distressed hoodie covered in newspaper headlines and images from her career, paired with a cascading white tulle skirt. Underneath was a black basketball-inspired outfit honoring Allen Iverson, whose influence on sports and fashion Osaka specifically cited. For another match, she wore a white outer layer decorated with beaded tennis racquets and a long flowing mesh train.
Townsend now belongs in that conversation.
Not because another major brand decided she did — but because she decided she did.
But What About Her Body?
There is a legitimate business argument for why Townsend has struggled for apparel sponsorship: singles stars usually receive more television exposure and therefore command more sponsorship money. Townsend’s greatest success has come in doubles.
But that doesn’t entirely explain her situation.
She is American. She is a Grand Slam champion. She is one of the best doubles players in the world. She has a growing following, a recognizable personality and consecutive deep U.S. Open singles runs.
And her body has been an issue in her tennis career since she was 16.
No apparel company has said publicly that it passed on Townsend because of her size, so it would be wrong to accuse a particular brand of doing so.
Still, it is fair to ask whether traditional ideas of what a marketable female tennis player should look like have worked against her.
That question feels especially outdated when you consider the women actually buying tennis clothes.
Recreational tennis players come in every size and shape. They are tall, short, thin, thick, curvy, muscular, young and old. Yet the women chosen to model tennis clothing rarely reflect that full range.
Townsend could.
In fact, her body may ultimately become an advantage for her own brand because she represents women the traditional tennis apparel market has often overlooked.
Are People Buying?
Townsend is getting some early evidence that they might.
More than 600 people showed up at her Brooklyn pop-up shop just before this year’s U.S. Open, with the line wrapping around the block. Fans came for merchandise including her “Hot Mom” and “Let My Racquet Talk” pieces.
There are no public sales or revenue figures yet, so it’s too early to know whether TT by Taylor Townsend will become a major apparel business.
But 600 people standing in line for clothes from an athlete who supposedly wasn’t attractive enough to the apparel industry is certainly an interesting start.
For years, Townsend was asked to fit someone else’s image of what a female tennis player should look like.
Now she’s making the clothes, creating the image and building the business herself.
Nobody wanted to dress Taylor Townsend. She may find out there are plenty of women who want to dress like her.
