Tennis News

Venus offers few clues about her barely-there new outfit

Jan 23, 2010, 8:38 GMT

Venus Williams of the US serves during her third round match against Casey Dellacqua of Australia at the Australian Open Tennis Tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 23 January 2010. Williams won in straight sets. EPA/JULIAN ABRAM WAINWRIGHT

Melbourne - Part-time designer Venus Williams was offering few clues Saturday at the Australian Open about her barely-there yellow outfit which seems to reveal much more than it actually does.

The dress, with side slits and a scoop-neck design, made some spectators believe the US player might have forgotten her knickers.

The illusion was that persuasive for some that a tennis website devoted a photo piece to work out the optical puzzle. And it deduced - correctly - that the 29-year-old, who reached the fourth round over Australian Samantha Stosur, is wearing a brown bodysuit underneath.

Venus wasn't bursting any bubbles about the gear, sticking to the facts: 'This is completely my design. I just sketched it out. Over time it was one of my old sketches and kind of got recycled and I kind of sat on it for a while.'

'The whole idea is just about an illusion, and the illusion is that I'm wearing, like, a deep V-neck. Obviously the most effective part of the illusion are the slits,' she said.

'Then the idea was to wear shorts that were like the same colour as my skin, so it works very well apparently.'

Williams dropped a few hints about her new-look lingerie in a Twitter post. But she professes to know nothing of the stir which her look has created during a quiet first week at the Open.

'I never read the press, I'm not always like in on the latest news - but I hear things.'

Williams characterized herself as a 'really private person.'

'So I do try to keep a part of my life very private,' she said. 'But there's a lot of things I like to share, too. I personally do all of my Twitter and I respond to people. There's a few people that I respond to over and over again.'

'So it's fun actually. But of course there is a limit to how far for me I'll go with sharing too much.'

Despite her fashion interests, the five-time Wimbledon champion insisted that her sport is her first love. 'Tennis is more fascinating than design.'