What Allen Iverson and HBCUs have to do with the US Open
From Naomi Osaka’s Allen Iverson tribute to Taylor Townsend’s HBCU-inspired look, two stars are bringing personal cultural influences onto the US Open stage
Allen Iverson never played a professional tennis match. Yet at this year’s US Open, his presence was unmistakable.
Walking onto the court for her first-round match at the year’s final Grand Slam, Naomi Osaka channeled one of basketball’s most recognizable figures, from the cornrows and headband to the attitude that made Iverson more than an NBA superstar. Designed by Who Decides War and styled by Law Roach, Osaka’s look was a bold move on tennis’ biggest stage.
The US Open feels less restrained than many tennis tournaments because in New York, the sport exists alongside streetwear, hip-hop and the city’s broader fashion scene. With New York Fashion Week beginning Thursday, athletes are competing in a city that’s paying close attention to what people are wearing and what trends are showing up next season.
With brands, luxury fashion houses and A-list stylists involved in a player’s image, the boundaries around how tennis players present themselves have become less rigid.
The intersection of basketball, hip-hop and streetwear is exactly where Iverson’s legacy sits, and a fitting example for Osaka to make a statement at the tournament she has won twice.
Osaka made her admiration for Iverson obvious at a news conference days before, wearing a T-shirt featuring his iconic SLAM magazine “Soul On Ice” cover and called him a “trailblazer,” crediting the Philadelphia 76ers legend with shifting “the whole conversation around clothes in sports and also expressing yourself through style.”
Soon after, she arrived at a training session in an oversized T-shirt and white durag that felt like a quieter nod to Iverson.
For Osaka, the idea takes a different shape. Her choice of Iverson isn’t the most obvious at first glance, unless you’ve followed the Basketball Hall of Famer’s style evolution over his decades-long pro career.
Of course she’s not pretending to be a basketball player either. But the significance may be in the unlikely pairing itself — a tennis star delving into basketball history for a reference that feels true to her.
Osaka wasn’t the only one who capitalized on the US Open’s flexible dress code to make a bold statement. Her off-court friend Taylor Townsend celebrated HBCU culture with a custom, majorette-inspired outfit, bringing another distinctly Black reference into a sport that has historically had its own ideas about how players should look and present themselves.
While the references are different, both looks ask fans to recognize something beyond the tennis court.
“Tennis gives me the frame, the culture gives me the fire,” Townsend’s stylist J. Bolin said to Andscape. “I am not dressing a tennis player, I am dressing Taylor, and Taylor is a whole person before she ever picks up a racket.”
Creative control, according to Bolin, is ultimately about authorship — specifically, who gets to decide how a player is seen, and what she wants that image to communicate.
“Everything changes. Without it, somebody else is deciding how palatable you need to be, and that decision always shrinks you,” Bolin said. “With it, the look stops being a costume the sport handed her and becomes a statement she authored.
“That is the difference between being dressed and being seen. Taylor knows exactly who she is. My job is not to invent her, it is to build the wardrobe that keeps up with her.”
For Townsend, those cultural references aren’t borrowed from elsewhere. They’re tied directly to her own story. Townsend’s mother, Sheila, played Division II tennis at Lincoln University in Missouri, while her older sister, Symone, competed at Florida A&M University. Thus, Townsend’s connection to HBCU tennis predates her professional career.
That sense of self-direction extends beyond the court, too. Townsend has no traditional clothing sponsor. After her contract with Nike lapsed in 2017, she spent the years that followed without a major deal, despite rising to No. 1 on the WTA doubles rankings last year.
Rather than wait for an endorsement, Townsend created her own luck, designing independent apparel featuring her interlocking “TT” logo and consequently taking full control of how she looks on the court.
Instead of starting with what tennis expects an athlete to wear, Bolin starts with Townsend and builds outward.
Black players have spent decades testing the boundaries of how tennis players are supposed to dress. From the braids and beads worn by sisters Serena and Venus Williams early in their careers to the unforgettable denim outfit Serena sported in 2004, these deliberate choices helped expand expectations for on-court fashion.
“Tennis spent a long time telling us what was appropriate, and appropriate was always code for something,” Bolin said. “Then Black players started showing up in beads, in denim, in color, in fits with actual point of view, and the sport had to catch up.”
Brands have also become more involved in shaping tennis pros’ images, making fashion a major selling point for the tournament’s appeal. Player attire is increasingly part of how the event is presented to the public.
Because it arrives at the same time the city’s fashion calendar is commanding attention, the US Open is built for a similar crossover — one Osaka and Townsend took full advantage of this year.