The 2025 Australian OpenShoe Report
The 2025Australian OpenShoe Report
Marsh green, flowers, and animals highlightthe Happy Slam.
Marsh green, flowers, and animals highlight the Happy Slam.
By Tim NewcombJanuary 15, 2024
The Australian Open may be on the other side of the world for many tennis fans, but for brands it is the first real opportunity in a new calendar year to show off fresh designs. And sometimes new faces.
While some athletes may be sporting new footwear, others simply have added a little flair to their kicks, whether it’s Nike’s embellishments for a handful of players, fresh designs for Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev, a special colorway for Marta Kostyuk, or the next colorway of the sport’s leading signature shoe for Coco Gauff.
Aryna SabalenkaJannik Sinner
Nike NXT & Zoom Zero
In a trend befitting Nike, two of the brand’s top players wear discontinued sneaker models. Aryna Sabalenka still sports the Zoom Nxt and Jannik Sinner the Zoom Zero. Both defending AO champions received similar treatment for the 2025 tournament, with Sabalenka’s shoes now featuring a tiger image near the heel to match her famed tattoo and Sinner’s model adorned with a fox—complete with paw prints, mind you—to tie to a nickname he picked up long ago.
Getty
Getty
COCO GAUFF
New Balance CG2
This is the second major Coco Gauff has played in the sequel iteration of her signature shoe from New Balance. This CG2 Coco AO colorway complements the Australian outdoors with a classic “marsh green,” the brand tells me, but there’s also a tie to Boston.
“When working with Coco on the Coco CG2 Australian Open colorway, we really leaned in on the color green and the retro vibes that color has for both tennis and Boston,” Jodi Klann, footwear creative design manager at Boston-based New Balance, tells me. “Coco wanted this first colorway of the year to be wearable while elevated and mature. Coco’s ideas and inspiration from the world around her make working on her signature model very fun, especially when we get to pull in elements from past collaborations, sports, and cultural moments.”
Images courtesy of New Balance
Images courtesy of New Balance
Marta Kostyuk
Wilson Intrigue
Wilson’s new women’s-specific Intrigue shoe, created in collaboration with Marta Kostyuk, doesn’t launch until February, but the head-to-toe Wilson athlete has been wearing the model in tournaments since the 2024 US Open. For this year’s AO, Kostyuk has a special-edition colorway in white and red that matches her dress.
Image courtesy of Wilson
Image courtesy of Wilson
Novak Djokovic
Asics Court FF3 Novak
Each major, Asics creates a fresh colorway of Novak Djokovic’s Court FF 3 Novak player-edition model, which includes small Djokovic-specific logos on the tongue. For the 2025 AO, the theme remains blue, a color he wore at the event in 2024 and again at the US Open in 2024 (he donned red at the 2024 Roland-Garros).
Images courtesy of Asics
Images courtesy of Asics
Naomi Osaka
Nike GP Challenge 1
There’s a special Naomi Osaka version of the mainline Nike GP Challenge 1. And this one is all about sunshine and flowers. Osaka, one of the lead athletes on the GP Challenge 1, routinely sports her own designs. The AO version features orange and brown with plenty of flower decorations, including one on the forefoot and another flower popping off the tongue. The phrase “The sun shines where you are” is on the upper.
Images courtesy of Nike
Images courtesy of Nike
Daniil Medvedev
Lacoste AG-LT 23 x Daniil Medvedev
One of the few athletes on tour we can rely on to have his own player-edition model, Daniil Medvedev’s Lacoste AG-LT 23 silhouette comes with a base of white and plenty of blue accenting. The typical “Daniil M.” mark adorns the tongue.
Images courtesy of Lacoste
Images courtesy of Lacoste
Frances Tiafoe, who has made appearances in the Shoe Report in the past, made plenty of waves by switching his apparel to Lululemon ahead of the 2025 AO, but his footwear deal is still in limbo. For the tournament, Tiafoe is wearing the new K-Swiss Ultrashot 4. What he wears for the remainder of 2025 remains undecided.
Nike athletes have a few new options to choose from, as those choosing the Vapor Pro model now have the Vapor Pro 3—worn this year by Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper—and those in the regular Vapor model have the 12s, such as what Nick Kyrgios donned on court.
The new Vapor Pro 3 Premium. // Nike
Grigor Dimitrov, who was long a Nike stalwart, even wearing Vapor 9 models for years after his Nike deal expired, made a footwear announcement before the AO, signing with Adidas (he wears Lacoste apparel). Dimitrov opted for the Ubersonic for his first match at the tournament, which he retired from early.
Image courtesy of Adidas
Casper Ruud’s Yonex kits continue to feature his name and the flag of his home country, Norway, on the uppers. This year’s AO is no different, outfitting Ruud in a pair of player-edition red Eclipsion 5s.
Adidas athletes are showing off a “bright red and pink color” at this year’s tournament, which the brand says is inspired by the Australian desert. Adidas hasn’t offered up player-edition models for years.
Cam Norrie has switched to a head-to-toe Babolat deal, which puts him now in the all-new SFX 3 from the brand.
Leylah Fernandez continues to don her father’s unreleased Aesem branded shoes.
We thought that when Andy Murray retired from tennis, he’d also retire from the Shoe Report, but we are glad to see that he has been wearing Asics models while on the court coaching Djokovic. Murray played the past few years of his career without a shoe deal, so Djokovic’s sponsor obviously lined him up with some fresh kicks.
Follow Tim Newcomb’s tennis gear coverage on Instagram at Felt Alley Tennis.
