New-look Venus grabs attention

New-look Venus grabs attention
Paul Tait

MELBOURNE, January 17: Some feared for her modesty, others just plain hated it, but Venus Williams’ daring low-cut outfit remains the centre of attention at the Australian Open.

Venus and younger sister Serena were positively demure during a doubles match on Wednesday as a fashion storm swirled around the revealing blue-and-black, combination bra and low-cut top Venus wore for the first time on Tuesday.‘‘I thought it was a little bizarre to play tennis in,’’ defending champion Lindsay Davenport said of fashion student Venus’ gravity-defying, peekaboo creation.Davenport entered the fashion stakes herself on Wednesday.

Normally a stickler for tradition, she took to court against German qualifier Greta Arn in a psychedelic, ’70s-style pink, red and white skirt similar to a shirt worn by seventh seed Mary Pierce of France on Tuesday.

Davenport’s concerns were echoed by former players who feared for Venus’s modesty during the more demanding points in Tuesday’s win over Spanish qualifier Maria Jose Martinez.

‘‘Every time Venus tossed up to serve I was thinking: ‘Oh no,they won’t fall out, will they?’,’’ American Pam Shriver said in The Australian newspaper.

VENUS’S CONTRAPTION: ‘‘Thankfully they didn’t... Things were much simpler in myday. I do not think many of us would be comfortable wearing Venus’s contraption,’’ Shriver said.

After the frenzy she created on Tuesday, Venus surprised again on Wednesday by choosing a conservative outfit for her doubles match.

She wore a simple white T-shirt and blue skirt as she and Serena the Wimbledon and Olympic doubles champions beat Canada’s Renata Kolbovic and India’s Niupama Vaidyanathan.

Venus said she was not distracted by the front-page attention that Tuesday’s outfit attracted.

‘‘I’m not irritated... I’m not easily irritated,’’ she said.

Tuesday’s stunning outfit even overshadowed Russia’s glamorous Anna Kournikova.

Eighth seed Kournikova opted not to try and match Venus’ bare look and returned to centre court on Wednesday wearing her new look of gold shirt, black shorts and gold shoes.

But comparisons were inevitably drawn between Venus and the Russian poster girl.

‘‘Excluding every day of Kournikova’s career, an outfit rarely generates as much interest as Venus Williams’s apparel did yesterday,’’ wrote The Age newspaper under the headline Crimes of Fashion.

‘‘Not since Andre Agassi’s on-again, off-again affair with the chest hair wax has a player’s appearance raised so many questions,’’ it said.

Venus, 20, recently signed a A$70 million ($40 million) deal with sportswear giant Reebok and is studying fashion at a Florida university.

The tabloid Herald Sun newspaper called the outfit ‘‘Venus’ fashion front.’’

‘‘The A$70 million ace wore a skirt teamed with a complicated strappy top that kept stunned fans guessing whether it was a too-tiny bra or a two-tone slashed-Front top,’’ it said.