Good luck being a leader and trying something new, especially when it comes to fashion. I’ve said it before, I’m not an expert nor will I pretend to be one. That doesn’t mean there aren’t others more than willing to pretend.
There are, and they’ve set their sights on Aryna Sabalenka. She dared to show up to the US Open in what haters of fashion have labeled a fishnet dress. The adults out there may refer to it, correctly, as a mesh dress.
I’d like to take a moment to thank Dua Lipa for several lessons in fashion, lessons that, let the record show, I retained despite being reluctantly dragged into them.
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It made it easier to spot what unfolded at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Sabalenka was on the court with her mixed doubles partner Novak Djokovic taking on Kateřina Siniaková and Henry Patten.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka react during their mixed doubles tennis match against Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova and Britain’s Henry Patten during Fan Week at the 2026 US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Aug. 25, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)
She and Djokovic ended up losing the match. While dealing with the top-ranked in mixed doubles, the self-appointed fashion experts went on the attack. Who knew a little mesh would cause such a reaction?
“How about that – Sabalenka leading the parade of streetwalker chic at the US Open with fishnet over shorts and a sports bra,” one of the critics wrote. “Why does New York bring out all the trashy-ness?”
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“Sabalenka ’s maximalist jewellery with those multicoloured stones set in gold clashes badly with her US open kit. Looks a mess imo,” said another.
One called it a “clown kit” and wrote in disbelief, “this sabalenka clown kit can’t be actually real.”
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka speak during their mixed doubles match against Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova and Britain’s Henry Patten during Fan Week at the 2026 US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Aug. 25, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)
These attacks on her fashion didn’t catch Aryna Sabalenka by surprise. She knew they were coming. She was prepared for it after rolling out the new Nike looks a few weeks ago.
“I love my outfit. If someone doesn’t like it, it’s okay. You cannot impress everyone with your outfits,” she said earlier this month. “That’s why I like fashion because there is room for whatever, basically.”
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka speak during their mixed doubles tennis match against Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova and Britain’s Henry Patten during Fan Week at the 2026 US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Aug. 25, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)
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Take that, haters. Nice try. A mesh dress on top of shorts and a sports bra doesn’t help you win your match. It also doesn’t make you the leader of an imaginary “parade of streetwalker chic” either.
I can’t believe that had to be pointed out and that I had to be the one to do it. Yet here we are.
