Two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka made a fashionable return to Flushing Meadows on Tuesday.
The world No. 88 served No. 10 seed Jelena Ostapenko her walking papers, while also serving vogue looks in a frilly, fun frock for her first match of the tournament.
She gave dreamy, cute-sy, and very demure in a white cropped bomber jacket and a tennis green skirt with a white petticoat underneath as she stepped onto the court in Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time since 2022.
But the focal point—or should we say—points, were the ten plus bows adorning all aspects of her outfit. Two large bows were boasted at each end of her gym bag, a lanyard of little white bows hung from its handle, her shoes had little green bows on the backs—and even her headphones had bows.
On her back, a large, green bow with long ribbons was tied, and trailed her like a cape, a tennis superhero’s attire as she returned to battle.
When she removed the jacket and skirt, she unveiled a four-tiered ruffle tennis dress that was met with cheers from the crowd—a welcome, extravagant look the tournament hasn’t seen since the retirement of Serena Williams.
For Osaka, a player who is not known for exceptionally expressive behavior on-court, the outfit was a step outside of her comfort zone.
“When I was putting on my outfit today, I was, like, ‘Ah, I hope this isn't too much’,” Osaka noted with a laugh in her post-match interview.
The cottage-core, doll-like outfit was designed in collaboration with Nike and Japanese Designer Yoon Ahn, founder of Tokyo label Ambush.
“Yoon is so nice,” Osaka said. “She accepted doing this project, and we've kind of been, like, talking about it for a few years now. So just to be able to wear it and see it come to life and see that people are excited to see it, yeah, it's really cool.”
Osaka, cited her Japanese culture, and specifically Harajuku, a district in Tokyo, for her outfit inspiration.
Osaka’s Round 1 win is her first victory back in New York since she gave birth to her daughter, Skai, in July 2023. Her return to tennis hasn’t been easy, and on Instagram earlier this month posted that the losses weren’t her greatest obstacle, but instead it was adjusting to her body postpartum.
“My biggest issue is that I don’t feel like I’m in my body.”
Osaka’s fashion, while fun, also has proven to be a weapon in her tennis arsenal—a sense of strength and confidence.
“Embrace this maximalist style,” Osaka told herself before her match. “Yeah, I think for me when I put on the outfit it's almost like a super suit, so I try to channel that.”
Like any good fashionista, Osaka isn’t a one-outfit show. She has a night match look that she is excited to unveil in her next match.
"But I do remember thinking, like, I need to win this match so I can wear my other color," Osaka laughed.
"That was very important to me. Yeah, I guess you'll see my other color next time."
