Naomi Osaka stopped everyone in their tracks at Wimbledon on Wednesday. The four-time Grand Slam champion walked from the locker room to Centre Court wearing a white jacket covered in colorful flowers, with a long train trailing behind her attached by an obi — a wide, decorative belt traditionally worn with a kimono in Japan. Cameras flashed. Phones went up. Spectators gasped. For a moment, the tennis seemed almost secondary.
Osaka, 28, has built a reputation as much for her bold fashion choices as for her powerful serve. This time, she said she wanted to "mix it up a little bit" after arriving at the All England Club in London for her opening match wearing an elegant, full-length white kimono — which already followed the tournament's strict all-white dress code.
The Japanese-Haitian American athlete, who mostly grew up in Florida, said her latest outfit was inspired by a trip back to her mother's homeland. "You go to Harajuku," she explained, referring to the famous fashion district in Tokyo, "and see everyone expressing themselves through clothes. It was just so cool and colourful. That stuck out to me a lot."
About an hour after turning heads on the walkway, Osaka turned her attention to the Russian player Anastasia Gasanova on Centre Court. She won 6-3, 6-2 — reaching the third round and matching her best-ever Wimbledon performance.
But what may matter most is what Osaka said about her approach to fashion: she doesn't plan it too carefully. "I think it's OK to try something and fail," she said. "But I'd rather just try it and see how it goes." It's a philosophy she seems to apply both to clothes and to life — one that invites people watching to embrace their own creativity, even if it doesn't always work out. And on this day at Wimbledon, it clearly worked out just fine.