{"id":530234,"date":"2026-01-20T16:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T16:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/530234\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T16:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T16:51:10","slug":"naomi-osaka-makes-grand-entrance-with-fashion-statement-at-australian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/530234\/","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka makes grand entrance with fashion statement at Australian Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 A statement of confidence as much as style, Naomi Osaka walked onto one of the biggest stages in tennis wearing a wide-brim hat, a veil and holding a white parasol in a bold opening act at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n

Aware that such an iconic walk-on could backfire if she lost her first-round match, Osaka did everything she needed Tuesday to bring down the curtain on Day 3 at Rod Laver Arena with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Antonia Ruzic.<\/p>\n

The hat and umbrella were adorned with symbolic butterflies, a nod to one of the memorable moments of Osaka\u2019s last title run at Melbourne Park in 2021 rather than a reflection of the usual first-round jitters at a major tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was playing today, I just told myself, like, \u2018Keep your head on the path. If she beats you, then that\u2019s unfortunate. But, hey, at least you\u2019re trending,\u2019\u201d on social media, she said.<\/p>\n

Osaka has won four Grand Slam singles titles, including two at the U.S. Open and two in Australia in 2019 and 2021. <\/p>\n

She next plays Sorana Cirstea, who beat Eva Lys 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. After reaching the U.S. Open semifinals last year<\/a> \u2014 her best result at a Grand Slam event in four years \u2014 Osaka is growing in confidence. <\/p>\n

Born in Japan but growing up in America, Osaka was inspired by Venus and Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, the tennis stars she described as the \u201cG.O.A.T\u2019s of style.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it all comes down to personality, too,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The dress she wore in her first-round match, in shades of blue and green, was also a tribute to her daughter, Shai, and her fascination with jellyfish.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, the inspiration was obviously the jellyfish, then butterflies, which kind of ties back to the butterfly moment I had here a long time ago, in 2021,\u201d Osaka said, recalling the images of one landing on her during a third-round match.<\/p>\n

It took months of planning. And it all tied in with the remodelled player tunnel at Rod Laver Arena that reflects Australian themes such as beaches and the coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly it came together quite beautifully because I didn\u2019t know what to expect when I arrived here,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cThen it just felt like everywhere I looked the theme was water. Obviously the walkout was like you see oceans and waves. I thought that it was really beautiful. Really amazing coincidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

More AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 A statement of confidence as much as style, Naomi Osaka walked onto one of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":530235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[227861,38341,101585,171,71642,57,1165,50369,6115,15242,229050,235115,5224,95076,62,18946,1464,67,132,68,107],"class_list":["post-530234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-antonia-ruzic","tag-australian-open","tag-australian-open-tennis-championships","tag-entertainment","tag-eva-lys","tag-general-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-maria-sharapova","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-osaka","tag-rod-laver","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-serena-williams","tag-sorana-cirstea","tag-sports","tag-swimming","tag-tennis","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115928464385645728","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}