{"id":876024,"date":"2026-09-01T09:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T09:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/876024\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T09:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T09:00:12","slug":"naomi-osaka-pays-tribute-to-nba-great-allen-iverson-as-she-brings-style-and-steel-to-us-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/876024\/","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka pays tribute to NBA great Allen Iverson as she brings style and steel to US Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Naomi Osaka unveiled another stunning walk-on outfit at the US Open before the two-time champion completed a straight-sets victory over unseeded Russian Anastasia Zakharova.<\/p>\n

Osaka has been the fashion highlight of this year’s majors and entered Arthur Ashe Stadium in a hooded tunic.<\/p>\n

The tunic featured patchwork-style panels adorned with \u200bpress clippings from past \u200ctournament appearances and a billowing white tulle train.<\/p>\n

\"Naomi<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka’s outfit featured press clippings. (Getty Images: Robert Prange)<\/p>\n

At Wimbledon, she paid tribute to her Japanese heritage with a kimono-inspired ensemble featuring a traditional kanzashi hair ornament, before she changed into a white Nike \u200cplaying kit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What inspired Osaka’s Aus Open outfit<\/a><\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka reveals a visit to Japan as a 13-year-old and the Williams sisters helped inspire the outfit she wore on Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n

At Roland Garros, Osaka arrived in a black Kevin Germanier skirt and \u2060competed in a layered yellow, brown and gold outfit inspired by \u200cthe Eiffel Tower’s night-time sparkle.<\/p>\n

Her look \u200bat the Australian Open \u200ctook its cues from a jellyfish<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Competing at Flushing Meadows in an Allen Iverson-inspired outfit, the four-time major champion looked set for a straightforward victory after racing into a 4-1 lead, only for world number 101 Zakharova to force a tie-break.<\/p>\n

“It’s \u200bmy \u200ctribute to Iverson,” Osaka said of the NBA Hall of Famer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I really like him a lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Nike said basketball, so I said, ‘You want basketball, I’ll give you \u2060basketball.’ I like expressing myself through clothes, and \u200cI’m glad you guys appreciate \u200cit.”<\/p>\n

\"Naomi<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka says she was paying tribute to NBA great Allen Iverson on court. (AP: Adam Hunger)<\/p>\n

Osaka showed her fighting qualities to win the tie-break before being taken to another in the \u200csecond set, where she held her nerve to close out the 7-6 (8\/6), 7-6 (7\/3) victory.<\/p>\n

“I would say it took everything [to win],” Osaka said as the clock \u200capproached 12:30 \u200bam, local time.<\/p>\n

“I have \u2060no idea what time it is. Thanks for staying,” she told fans.<\/p>\n

“I’m grateful to be able to play on this court again.<\/p>\n

“I just told myself to not have any regrets. I wanted to come out and compete \u2026 I was a little rusty.<\/p>\n

“I get nervous in the first rounds. I want \u200cto do well \u200cand show you guys new outfits.”<\/p>\n

The 13th seed, champion at Flushing \u200bMeadows in 2018 and 2020, takes on Czech Kate\u0159ina Siniakov\u00e1 in the second round.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka unveiled another stunning walk-on outfit at the US Open before the two-time champion completed a straight-sets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":876025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[35492,64,63,28375,590,1025,20989,85,747,1751],"class_list":["post-876024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-allen-iverson","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-nba","tag-new-york","tag-outfit","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-us-open"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}