It has been a year of stunning Grand Slam entrances for Naomi Osaka – and the Japanese megastar is hoping that there are six more to come.
Two-time US Open champion Osaka made a grand entrance into Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday night, paying homage to former NBA star Allen Iverson.
Per Vogue, the entrance piece was a custom Who Decides War gown, designed by Ev Bravado and Téla D’Amore, with Osaka styled by Law Roach.
The walk-on kit was a real showstopper. Fashioned from gray French terry, typically seen in sweatshirts, a loose hoody covered in newspaper clippings from Osaka’s career looked very “street”. The relaxed streetwear-inspired top spilled into a flowing white tulle skirt and sweeping train. High marks, indeed.
The on-court kit was an homage to Iverson: a black Nike tennis dress with red accents, combined with red-and-black arm sleeves, a headband and cornrows.
Afterwards, Osaka said: “The inspiration is Allen Iverson. For me he’s a trailblazer. He’s someone that was able to merge culture and sport, and he’s very famous for that. Also, I just really appreciate his style.
“That’s kind of, like, what I tried to embody. Obviously I had a lot of fun with that design process and just coming up with the creative for it. So overall it was cool. I think it fit New York really well, and I’m just excited to continue.”
Osaka went on to navigate a tricky match against Russia’s Anastasia Zakharova, coming out with a 7-6(6),7-6(3) victory to set a second-round match with Katerina Siniakova.
While the fashion was on-point from the start, Osaka knows she’ll need to keep improving as the tournament winds on, if she wants to collect her third US Open trophy.
“I felt like I wasn’t hitting the shots that I wanted to hit. Like my pace was very low. Granted, she was hitting really flat and hard, and I felt like in some moments I could only react,” she said. “I know that there’s a level of my tennis that’s much higher than today, and it was just a little disappointing that I wasn’t able to show that to everybody.”
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