Naomi Osaka continued to defy critics of her outfit choices by wearing a very bold costume for her opening game at Wimbledon on Monday.
Osaka took to Court 3 at SW19 to face Elsa Jacquemot in her first round match, striding onto the court in an eye-catching Kimono.
The 28-year-old made headlines for wearing similar outfits at the French Open last month, a move which led to backlash among her counterparts.
The Japanese star was accused of not coming to Roland Garros ‘to play tennis’ by her first-round opponent Laura Siegemund after arriving for her opening match in a flowing black skirt and corset made from her old Nike match outfits before unveiling a shimmering gold dress, which Osaka said she thought looked like the famous French monument at night.
Osaka earns £7.5million a year in her deal with Nike and posed for night-time pictures in front of the glittering Eiffel Tower.
‘I came here to play tennis, not to put on a fashion show,’ Siegemund had told TNT Sports. ‘And if others want to put on a fashion show, then they should go ahead and do it. That’s totally fine with me.’
For her third-round clash against Iva Jovic, Osaka walked out on Court Suzanne Lenglen with a flowing coffee train, a darker shade to the one she wore against Donna Vekic in the second round and a different warm-up jacket, this time in a more synched, peplum style.
’Shining, as always,’ posted the official Roland Garros account on X, with a video of Osaka striding on to court.
While her first-round opponent took issue with her outfit, Vekic had no complaints after her defeat.
‘Some people take tennis way too seriously. Relax, it’s just an outfit. I think it’s good that she’s doing different things, expressing herself through fashion. Whether it’s good or bad, that’s a different thing, it’s fashion.’
And while the beaten Siegemund had no issue with the actual outfit design or the result, she expressed some frustration at the time Osaka was awarded to take off her outer garments in comparison to how long players are allowed to do meaningful things during matches.
The Japanese star is renowned for her high-fashion outfits at tournaments and had emerged on Court Suzanne-Lenglen for her first match in a black corset with matching skirt.
The black corset and skirt was designed by couturier Kevin Garmanier, who works with upcycled materials, and deconstructed Osaka’s old Nike competition outfits to create it.
The pleated black skirt was made using the inner layers of one of her jackets while her old tennis skirts and dresses were also cut up and reused. The outfit was then covered in hundreds of hand-applied crystals.
‘It’s just fun to watch designers work, especially when there is an already pre-existing thing that they have to design around,’ said Osaka, who admitted she brought back-up dresses to Roland Garros just in case as she was worried her golden Nike outfit might blind spectators.
‘When I first saw the dress in real life, I felt like I looked like the Eiffel Tower at night-time when it’s sparkling,’ she said. ‘And then I actually got a little worried, because when the sun hits the dress, it reflects a lot. I was a little scared that the umpire was going to kick me off the court.’
More to follow.
