The US OPENShoe Report
The US OpenShoe Report
Players and brands are ready to get noticedin the Big Apple.
Players and brands are ready to get noticed in the Big Apple.
By Tim NewcombAugust 29, 2024
Paris may be a fashion capital and London may hold a monopoly on tennis heritage, but New York City is about being seen. And there are plenty of players ready for that. From bows for Naomi Osaka’s Nike shoes to a brand-new signature New Balance design for Coco Gauff and Andrey Rublev donning a yet-to-be-released K-Swiss model and Novak Djokovic in another new personalized Asics colorway, we’ve got plenty of shoes to watch during the 2024 US Open.
FRANCES TIAFOE
Nike Zoom GP Challenge 1 ‘Premium’
Frances Tiafoe doesn’t have a player-edition model from Nike, but he’s wearing the Nike Zoom GP Challenge 1 Premium model, a white and orange colorway that dropped for the US Open and has New York City detailing. The shoe features “NYC” on the lace tag and has additional Nike-plus-NYC highlights on the tongue and sockliner. Tiafoe also added a walkout shoe to his repertoire by wearing a The Surgeon custom-designed Nike sneaker in a marketing deal with Cadillac.
Images courtesy of Nike
Images courtesy of Nike
Andrey Rublev
Unreleased K-Swiss
Andrey Rublev and K-Swiss announced a partnership ahead of the US Open that will eventually include a capsule collection with Rublev’s Rublo brand. But for now, Rublev is in a full K-Swiss kit with his new Rublo logo on the shirt, including wearing a yet-unreleased footwear model. The new shoe will become available at retail in January 2025, and Rublev is the only K-Swiss athlete wearing the model this season. Expect to see the silhouette as part of the Rublo collection when it releases.
Image courtesy of K-Swiss
Image courtesy of K-Swiss
NAOMI OSAKA
Nike Zoom GP Challenge 1 PE
Naomi Osaka’s shoes have bows—and not just the tied laces. As part of a collaboration between Nike and fashion designer Yoon Ahn, who created a special on-court kit and off-court accessories for Osaka’s US Open, the custom-made Nike Zoom GP Challenge 1 Premium shoes for Osaka also feature a bow on the heel. Osaka has both a black kit and a white and green kit, and we first saw the “black and summit white” shoes in a photo shoot and the “summit white and vivid green” shoes at practice. She wore the white and green during her first match on Tuesday, a day event. Expect to see the black at night.
Image courtesy of Nike
Image courtesy of Nike
COCO GAUFF
New Balance Coco CG2 ‘Power and Grace’
After two straight years of new colorways for every tennis major, plus extra designs along the way, the 2024 US Open offers up the first tournament where the defending women’s champion will play in the brand-new New Balance Coco CG2 signature model. With an upper inspired by the New Balance 550, the midtop shoe’s colorway riffs off New York City, the site of Gauff’s first major victory last year. Dubbed the Power and Grace colorway, the shoe’s base blue color ties to the Statue of Liberty, with the bright yellow a nod to New York’s bright lights.
Image courtesy of New Balance
Image courtesy of New Balance
NOVAK DJOKOVIC
Asics Court FF 3 Novak
Novak Djokovic’s Lacoste apparel went all blue for the 2024 US Open, so his Asics Court FF 3 Novak shoes follow suit. Asics has recently placed the number of major singles titles Djokovic has in numeric fashion on his sneakers, and this tournament the “24” appears small on the side of his shoes near the collar. Since he’s a lead athlete for Asics footwear, the Novak version of the Court FF 3 comes with his personal logo on the tongue and heel.
Asics
Asics
BENOIT PAIRE
Babolat Propulse Fury 3 Paire
Back in the spring Babolat surprised us all with a special player-edition model of the Propulse Fury 3 for Benoit Paire, complete with plenty of edginess. The model returned for the US Open, this time in white and pink, but still with the specialized three icons that feature a tennis racquet and ball (yeah, not edgy), a cocktail glass with an olive on the rim highlighting Paire’s party-first lifestyle (a little edgier), and then a cat, a reference to a vulgar phrase he yells to opponents after they hit a winner (okay, lots of edge). Of course, Paire didn’t make it out of qualifying, so we won’t see the shoes in the main draw.
Image courtesy of Babolat
Babolat
Nike’s Andre Agassi Hot Lava love is a subtle theme for the US Open. We saw Carlos Alcaraz walk out on court in the remake of the Air Tech Challenge 2 that releases Aug. 30, and some of the players not wearing the “Premium” models of shoes with a New York City theme are instead wearing Hot Lava colorways, such as Jannik Sinner, now available in a few of the Nike silhouettes.
Daniil Medvedev has a recurring spot in the Shoe Report thanks to his player-edition Lacoste AG-LT Ultra model. For New York, he’s got “Daniil M.” on the tongue and has choices between multiple shoes featuring shades of blue with white. He opted for a white-based version for his opening-day match on Tuesday.
Image courtesy of Lacoste
Wilson kits have been on the up for over a year. The shoes are now following suit. Along with a fun stable of Pro Staff 87 lifestyle options, the new Rush Pro 4.5 is donning the feet of Wilson head-to-toe professionals. And Wilson is doing something different with Marta Kostyuk, not only putting her in an all-yellow dress but also a pair of player-edition white and yellow shoes to match.
Following a special player-edition shoe for Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon that Nike also made available at retail, the Spanish star is back in the “Premium” colorway of Nike shoes that feature the New York City-centric detailing across the entire brand’s silhouettes.
Ben Shelton broke out a pair of black On The Roger Pro 2s for his first-round match, showing a bit of deviation from the white-based models we’ve seen from On for the on-court experience in the past. Iga Swiatek, also wearing On, opted for the mostly white version of The Roger Pro 2s.
One of Shoe Report’s favorite under-the-radar players to watch is Leylah Fernandez. Last year’s US Open saw the Canadian break out Puma basketball shoes for doubles play. Since, she’s switched up and worn Asics, Puma, On, and even a brand-new Aesem Athletica brand her father is starting up. She tells me that she’s always enjoyed trying different types of shoes to see what she likes best. For the 2024 US Open she appears to be in a nondescript pair from Aesem that matches her Lululemon dress.
Adidas offers up nine footwear silhouettes across its men’s and women’s line, all featuring flash aqua and lucid blue, including the newest addition to the mix, the Defiant Speed 2. All Adidas-sponsored players will wear the shoe of their choice in the US Open colorway.
Follow Tim Newcomb’s tennis gear coverage on Instagram at Felt Alley Tennis.
