{"id":84060,"date":"2026-09-01T20:07:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T20:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/84060\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T20:07:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T20:07:34","slug":"naomi-osaka-channels-nba-icon-allen-iverson-with-bold-look-before-progressing-at-us-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/84060\/","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka channels NBA icon Allen Iverson with bold look before progressing at US Open"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p>Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/naomi-osaka\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Naomi Osaka<\/a> channeled Allen Iverson as part of her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/us-open\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">US Open<\/a> first-round success, and the former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/nba\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBA<\/a> superstar liked the look.<\/p>\n<p>Osaka made her usual fashionable entrance for her match against Anastasia Zakharova on Monday night. The two-time US Open champion emerged from the tunnel onto the court in Arthur Ashe Stadium wearing a long, white skirt and a gray, hooded robe featuring newspaper clippings about her.<\/p>\n<p>She had the hood on when she entered. When she removed that to reveal her black outfit, Osaka had her hair done in cornrows under a headband, just as Iverson did when was the NBA MVP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/ap-nba-camden-ted-lasso-charles-barkley-b2528036.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">while playing for the Philadelphia 76ers.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It fit with her apparel company&#8217;s theme for the US Open after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/new-york-knicks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New York Knicks<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/sport\/us-sport\/nba\/new-york-nicks-nba-championship-finals-celebrations-nyc-b2995403.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">won the NBA championship in June.<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/aryna-sabalenka\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> is wearing an orange dress, one of the Knicks&#8217; colors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s my, I guess, my tribute to Iverson. I really like him a lot,\u201d Osaka said following her 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3) victory. \u201cI mean, Nike said basketball, so I said, \u2018OK, you want basketball, I\u2019ll give you basketball.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Osaka wore a shirt with Iverson&#8217;s picture when she met with the media on the eve of the tournament and called him a trailblazer.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2292929961...jpeg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Naomi Osaka is through to the second round\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/>Naomi Osaka is through to the second round (Getty)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think he\u2019s also someone that I look up to a lot, because he\u2019s kind done a lot in fashion, whether it\u2019s on purpose or not, but he\u2019s shifted the way that NBA players dress,\u201d Osaka said Saturday. \u201cI also think the whole conversation around clothes in sports and also just expressing yourself through style, I feel like he\u2019s someone that I look up to in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added that they&#8217;d never communicated, but Iverson posted a message to Osaka on his Instagram page Monday, writing: \u201cWow, what a honor!! BIG FAN can\u2019t wait to meet you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[53480,8,85,1050,1257,27545],"class_list":["post-84060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-osaka","tag-20260831-221705","tag-japan","tag-osaka","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-top-picture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}