{"id":697015,"date":"2026-05-27T11:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T11:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/697015\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T11:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T11:41:14","slug":"french-open-fashion-how-naomi-osakas-gold-dress-reveals-tennis-still-has-some-growing-up-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/697015\/","title":{"rendered":"French Open fashion: How Naomi Osaka\u2019s gold dress reveals tennis still has some growing up to do"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two things happened on the Court Suzanne-Lenglen at the French Open yesterday.<\/p>\n

Japanese tennis star and former World No.1 player Naomi Osaka beat her German opponent Laura Siegemund 6-3, 7-6 (3), starting her Roland Garros campaign in style.<\/p>\n

Speaking of which, the second thing stole the spotlight: Osaka\u2019s taste for fashion.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old four-time Grand Slam champion walked onto the court in a ceremonial black skirt and sleeveless beaded bodice, which she removed to reveal a stunning sequined gold playing dress.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very couture,\u201d Osaka said of her dress after the match. \u201cYou know the Eiffel Tower at night when it\u2019s sparkly. I kind of think I look like that a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osaka said the playing dress was designed by Nike while the outer pieces were from Swiss couturier Kevin Germanier.<\/p>\n

\"Naomi<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka – AP Photo <\/p>\n

\u201cAthletes are in show business,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cGrand Slam walk-ons are the only time that I possibly feel like I\u2019m an entertainer.\u201d<\/p>\n

She did voice other concerns… \u201cI actually got a little worried, because when the sun hits the dress, it reflects a lot. So I was a little scared that the umpire was going to kick me off the court,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I (had) two back-up normal Nike dresses.\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time that Osaka has turned a show-stopping look on the tennis court, having wowed the crowd at last year\u2019s US Open with a red outfit and sparkly red roses in her ponytail. Then, earlier this year at the Australian Open, she wore a jellyfish-inspired number including a huge wide-brim hat and a veil.<\/p>\n

However, and in a depressingly predictable manner, the internet was divided on Osaka\u2019s latest fashion choice.<\/p>\n

Some were full of praise…<\/p>\n

Others bemoaned that a woman would dare incorporate high fashion into her sportswear.<\/p>\n

Conservative fans are claiming the outfit is disrespectful to the sport and its legacy, while others are going down the \u201cHow dare she not wear something more demure?\u201d route.<\/p>\n

In order not to give a platform to the sexist comments, let\u2019s stick with this one, which resumes things quite nicely:<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a further personal dimension to this backlash, which is where things turn uglier. Osaka has been open about her media anxiety and struggles with mental health.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, she said that she enjoys fashion since \u201cI don\u2019t talk a lot, so I can talk through my clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThat means I can be as loud with colours or patterns or fabric as I want… But I think that’s the fun part. I feel like we lost that a little in tennis. (…) I know there are some kids or some people that are similar to me, that hopefully feel that same way about my outfits. But, yeah, I am a little dramatic when it comes to my fashion sense.”<\/p>\n

\"Naomi<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka – AP Photo <\/p>\n

Regardless, it seems that a certain dark corner of the tennis world just can\u2019t seem to move with the times and celebrate bold choices \u2013 especially when it comes to policing women\u2019s bodies and criticising what female athletes wear on the court.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been seen before.<\/p>\n

If an outfit is too loud or stylish, the athlete is accused of mistaking the court for a runway and risks a code violation warning for \u201cunsportsmanlike behaviour\u201d. If the sportswear is too tight, the athlete is too provocative and \u201clacking decorum\u201d. And if an outfit is deemed not appealing enough, the athlete should be making more of an effort for the sake of the sport and its traditions. It\u2019s a lose-lose-lose situation.<\/p>\n

A notable example came in 1985, when American player Anne White was also told to wear something more \u201cappropriate\u201d by the Wimbledon referee after she played her first round in a long-sleeved white spandex bodysuit. Then came the 2018 US Open, where Serena Williams wore a custom Nike tutu after her catsuit (made to improve her blood circulation and avoid blood clots post-pregnancy) was banned from the French Open.<\/p>\n

\"Serena<\/p>\n

Serena Williams – 2018 – AP Photo <\/p>\n

Thankfully, following Serena catsuit uproar, the Women\u2019s Tennis Association (WTA) finally announced that it had \u201cmodernised\u201d its dress code, with the rollout of a new rule which allowed for leggings and mid-thigh length compression shorts to be worn without a skirt.<\/p>\n

Still, the history of women\u2019s dress codes remains dishearteningly contentious and laced in sexism, and in some cases racism. And despite more encouraging moves over the years, like Wimbeldon relaxing its rigid dress code rules in 2023, court outfits still bring out archaic reactions.<\/p>\n

\"Naomi<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka – AP Photo <\/p>\n

As for Osaka\u2019s gold number, former British number one Annabel Croft said a lot of players “would not be able to live up to the expectation” of walking out in custom made outfits like Osaka’s.<\/p>\n

“If you go out there in an extraordinary outfit, you’ve got to live up to that and have the confidence to play in it and give the crowd the tennis as well as the outfit,” she said on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra. “Naomi can handle it. She really loves it and she’s not fazed by it.”<\/p>\n

As for those who are fazed by a woman expressing herself through fashion and controlling her own narrative on a global arena, it sounds like you\u2019re the ones guilty of \u201cunsportsmanlike behaviour\u201d at best, and overt sexism at worse.<\/p>\n

Let Osaka sparkle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two things happened on the Court Suzanne-Lenglen at the French Open yesterday. Japanese tennis star and former World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,1187,5525,24456,82,593,95449],"class_list":["post-697015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fashion","tag-french-open","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697015","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=697015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}