When Serena Williams announced her upcoming retirement, or as she likes to call it, “evolution,” from tennis in the September 2022 Vogue issue, it felt like the end of a glorious era. The bittersweet news no doubt shook diehard tennis lovers as much as it did non-tennis fans when it was announced on August 9. Though she will be stepping away from the tennis court soon, she hasn’t packed up her racket just yet. On August 29, the GOAT came ready to compete and win (which she did) on the first day of the US Open in a sparkly ensemble that included gems in her ponytail. 

This US Open could be Williams’s last one, so she is determined to go out with a bang. The tennis star played in a shimmery, flowy black dress and a matching bedazzled Nike headband. Hairstylist Nikki Nelms slicked Williams’s curls into what seemed like a simple sleek ponytail. Nelms wove teeny-tiny jewels into Williams’s caramel brown-highlighted kinks. 

In an Instagram post she shared of the look, Nelms sang Williams’s praises in the caption. “Last nite was amazing. @serenawilliams is an icon,” the caption reads. “She’s been shining her whole life… her whole career. Last nite her hair did too. #HairByNikkiNelms.” And she surely shone during the Monday game.