Serena Williams was a trailblazer on and off the court.
The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion amassed over $95 million in career earnings and is widely regarded as the GOAT female player.
The retired tennis ace continually pushed the boundaries during her playing career, especially when it came to fashion.
Serena’s iconic ‘superhero’ outfit forced an entire rule change at the 2018 French Open.
At the same tournament 16 years prior, Williams caused a stir by playing in a custom tennis kit inspired by the Cameroonian national team.
The year was 2002 and the French Open happened to overlap with the World Cup in Japan and Korea.
The Indomitable Lions, led by ex Barcelona and Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto’o, were embroiled in their own kit controversy that summer when then their sleeveless shirts were banned from the 2002 World Cup.
FIFA banned the Cameroonian squad from wearing their signature sleeveless shirts because they were ‘vests’ and not ‘shirts’.
When the World Cup eventually rolled around, the African nation protested FIFA’s decision by wearing the same shirts but with black sleeves underneath them.
Puma were the creative minds behind the iconic shirts, and just so happened to be Serena’s sponsor as she headed to Paris that year.
At the time, the 20-year-old phenom was the world no. 3 and in search of her second Grand Slam title after winning on home soil at the 1999 US Open.
Sensing an opportunity, Williams and Puma collaborated on their own version of the banned Cameroonian kit for her to wear at Roland Garros.
During the first two rounds of the second Grand Slam of the year, Serena rocked a sleeveless green dress trimmed with red, black and yellow, which prominently featured the Cameroon crest.
The homage to the 2002 World Cup team was complete with yellow high socks, matching green and yellow shoes, and a color- coordinated headband to match.
Serena even requested a no. 26 to be stitched onto the back as a nod to her birth date, but it was rejected by tournament organizers.
“Since I always wear sleeveless things, Puma came up with this idea for me during the French Open to wear the Cameroon outfit, which is really exciting,” Serena explained at the time.
“I was reading an article where it says that Cameroon is everyone’s favorite team,” she added. “[Even] if you’re supporting England, a lot of people have this love for Cameroon because they’re always fighting so much it seems. They’re the best African team.”
Sadly, Cameroon failed to get out of their group at the 2002 World Cup, finishing in third place in Group E, ahead of Saudi Arabia but behind the Republic of Ireland and Germany.
Fortunately, Serena fared much better at Roland Garros, but only after switching up her Cameroon-inspired outfit.
From the third round until the final, she wore a black and gold outfit with matching shoes.
She faced big sister Venus, who had recently beat her in the 2001 US Open final, in that year’s showpiece.
That seemed to spur Serena on as she won the match 7-5, 6-3 to claim her maiden French Open title.
Out of nine Williams sisters Grand Slam finals, this was the only contest on the Parisian clay.
Williams would win four straight majors – the ‘Serena Slam’ (all four majors in a row but not during one season) – across 2002 and 2003.
She also beat Venus in three straight finals that year (2002 French Open, 2002 Wimbledon and 2002 US Open).
Serena would go on to claim her second and third French Open titles in 2013 and 2015 before retiring from the sport in 2022.
The 42-year-old has been focusing on family and business but recently hinted at a sensational return to tennis.
