{"id":426819,"date":"2026-01-22T23:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T23:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/426819\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T23:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T23:03:09","slug":"naomi-osaka-tones-down-her-walk-on-outfit-turns-up-the-heat-at-australian-open-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/426819\/","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka tones down her walk-on outfit. Turns up the heat at Australian Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Fashion<\/a> and friction have been the defining features for Naomi Osaka in two rounds at the Australian Open that couldn’t have been more different.<\/p>\n

Osaka fended off Sorana Cirstea in a tense 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win at Margaret Court Arena on Thursday night. Cirstea’s parting shot was at the net.<\/p>\n

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The pair barely exchanged a handshake over the net, with Cirstea glancing in Osaka\u2019s direction briefly and then turning her head away.<\/p>\n

As they walked toward the umpire\u2019s chair, Osaka asked, \u201cWhat was that for?\u201d<\/p>\n

Cirstea responded directly to the two-time Australian Open winner, upset with Osaka’s efforts to pump herself up at stages during the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently a lot of \u2018C\u2019mons\u2019 that she was angry about,” Osaka said, \u201cbut whatever. I think this was her last Australian Open so, OK, sorry she was mad about it.”<\/p>\n

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Osaka got emotional in her on-court interview when asked to clarify why the tension heightened with the 35-year-old Romanian, saying, \u201cShe could have asked me (to stop).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly … no one\u2019s ever complained about it before. Also the umpire didn\u2019t tell me I was wrong \u2014 the umpire said I was fine. Like, I thought we moved past it.”<\/p>\n

She said she was open to talking it over with Cirstea.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess that emotions were very high for her. I also want to apologize,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cI think the first couple things that I said on the court was disrespectful. I don\u2019t like disrespecting people. That\u2019s not what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cirstea said the issue was blown out of proportion and she’d prefer to reflect on her decades of experience at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no drama. It was just a five-second exchange between two players that have been on tour for a long time,\u201d she said. \u201cIt stays between us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tense finish was in stark contrast to Osaka’s grand entrance that went viral two days earlier for her first-round win over Antonia Ruzic. Osaka walked onto the court wearing a wide-brim hat, a veil and holding a white parasol \u2014 a design she said her clothing sponsor, Nike, let her create.<\/p>\n

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For the second round, she dispensed with the couture hat, veil and parasol but was still wearing the jellyfish-inspired dress, a matching warmup jacket in the same blue and green aquatic hues, and a visor.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust something fun I like to do on the court. I like to express myself through clothes,\u201d Osaka said of her prematch walk-on designs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really glad that you love it,\u201d she added, looking up at two women in the crowd who had replicas of the wide-brim hat and veil that Osaka wore for her walk-on in the previous match. \u201cYou guys look really cool by the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/a><\/p>\n

John Pye, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Fashion and friction have been the defining features for Naomi Osaka in two rounds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[7641,49,48,24456,61783,82,593],"class_list":{"0":"post-426819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-australian-open","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-naomi-osaka","12":"tag-sorana-cirstea","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}