It’s become a ritual. Both her’s and our’s. Naomi Osaka’s court entrance at each tournament she plays is worthy of all our attention.
Even practice runs at the US Open this week came into play, including a Dolce & Gabbana vintage off-the-shoulder dress and a photo captioned “Restrictions: For the gurls” by Osaka. Yes, it’s a fashion statement. But it’s so much more. It’s confidence. It’s an arrival. It’s a mindset. It tells her competitors and her fans alike – I’m not to ever be ignored.
Naomi Osaka’s second practice session in New York, wearing a vintage Dolce & Gabbana, US Open.
(Photo Times of India)
With every tournament, she brings more than her tennis to the court, pairing her game with bold statements and an unapologetic sense of self. Before Naomi, though, embracing another dimension of yourself – one that exists beyond your game – felt almost impossible for women athletes. She has claimed in the past that since she doesn’t talk much, she lets the clothes do that. And we hear them loud and clear. A woman in tennis, or any sport for that matter, doesn’t need to pretend she doesn’t like fashion or stunning gowns to be taken seriously. Osaka is quite serious on the court, always a contender, and she enters this US Open fresh and ready.
And to her critics? She says “I don’t do this for them, though; they will never get it, and I don’t want them to. I do this for the people that are like me. It’s Osaka’s “opportunity to bring people into my creative world.”
Her Instagram bio says it all : experimental is the sole word. Could that be Osaka’s greatest statement of all? That she is an athlete who keeps pushing boundaries and will not be defined by just one version of herself.