This is What’s Trending Today.
Tennis players must wear almost all white at Wimbledon. That includes shorts, shirts, hats, dresses, shoes and socks.
But when they get to New York in the late summer for the U.S Open, they let their personalities come out through their clothing.Serena Williams is one player who always wears something special. In 2004, Williams wore calf-high, shiny black Nike tennis shoes.
But this year, Williams is not playing due to her pregnancy.
It turns out other players are taking over the fashion show. On Monday night, Maria Sharapova played in her first major tournament in over a year. She was suspended for taking a banned drug in early 2016.
She impressed the crowd with a shiny black dress. The dress shined because it was embedded with crystals.
After she won her opening match, she said: “Behind these Swarovski crystals and little black dresses, this girl has a lot of grit and she’s not going anywhere.”
Among the male players at the tournament, people are talking about the clothing worn this week by Alexander Zverev from Germany. Zverev was the fourth-ranked player in the tournament. Tennis experts thought he could win the title.
Against Darian King of Barbados, Zverev was wearing a tennis outfit similar to the one worn by Swedish star Bjorn Borg in the 1970s.
He had a white headband with thin stripes holding back his long hair. He wore a similarly styled shirt and even completed the throwback look with high white socks. Tennis players have not worn those socks since the early 1980s. Zverev said his look was designed by singer Pharrell Williams.
On Twitter, many people talked about the high socks. Some liked them; others did not.
In his next match, however, Zverev lost to Croatia’s Borna Coric.
This time, he was wearing shorter socks.
Maybe that was the difference.
One Twitter user, Jen, definitely thought so.
She wrote: “Zverev clearly should have kept the long socks.”
Zverev clearly should have kept the long socks. Maybe he'll be better at best of 5 when he develops physically. I'll miss his outfit
— Jen. (@YouWonScience) August 31, 2017
And that’s What’s Trending Today.
I’m Dan Friedell.
Dan Friedell adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on a story by the Associated Press. Hai Do was the editor.
Will you be watching the U.S. Open fashion? We want to know. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
Words in This Story
personality - n. the set of emotional qualities, ways of behaving, etc., that makes a person different from other people
embed - v. to place or set (something) firmly in something else
grit - n. mental toughness and courage
throwback - n. a person or thing that is similar to someone or something from the past or that is suited to an earlier time -- usually singular
outfit - n. a set of clothes that are worn together
look - n. a style or fashion
