{"id":879527,"date":"2026-09-01T13:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T13:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/879527\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T13:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T13:58:12","slug":"naomi-osaka-pays-tribute-to-nba-star-allen-iverson-in-basketball-themed-us-open-outfit-naomi-osaka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/879527\/","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka pays tribute to NBA star Allen Iverson in basketball-themed US Open outfit | Naomi Osaka"},"content":{"rendered":"

Naomi Osaka channeled former NBA star Allen Iverson<\/a> before her US Open first-round victory over Anastasia Zakharova on Monday.<\/p>\n

Osaka made her usual fashionable entrance for her tournament opener, which she won in straight sets. The two-time US Open champion emerged on to the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium wearing a long, white skirt and a gray, hooded robe featuring newspaper clippings about her.<\/p>\n

She then removed her hood revealing her cornrows under a headband, Iverson\u2019s signature look when he was the NBA<\/a> MVP while playing for the Philadelphia 76ers. She also wore an arm sleeve, a look made popular by Iverson during his playing career.<\/p>\n

Osaka is not the only Nike-sponsored athlete to wear a basketball-themed outfit at the US Open. World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka is wearing an orange dress at the tournament, one of the colors of the New York Knicks, who won their first NBA title<\/a> since 1973 in June.<\/p>\n

Allen Iverson was known for his cornrows during his NBA career. Photograph: Jeff Haynes\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my, I guess, my tribute to Iverson. I really like him a lot,\u201d Osaka said after her 7-6, 7-6 victory. \u201cI mean, Nike said basketball, so I said, \u2018OK, you want basketball, I\u2019ll give you basketball.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Osaka wore a shirt with Iverson\u2019s picture when she spoke to reporters on Saturday, praising the Hall of Famer as a fashion trailblazer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s also someone that I look up to a lot, because he\u2019s kind done a lot in fashion, whether it\u2019s on purpose or not, but he\u2019s shifted the way that NBA players dress,<\/a>\u201d Osaka said on Saturday. \u201cI also think the whole conversation around clothes in sports and also just expressing yourself through style, I feel like he\u2019s someone that I look up to in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka wore a hood when she entered the court on Monday. Photograph: Adam Hunger\/AP<\/p>\n

She added that she has never spoken to Iverson, but he posted a message to Osaka on his Instagram page on Monday, writing: \u201cWow, what a honor!! BIG FAN can\u2019t wait to meet you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osaka has gained attention for her adventurous style<\/a> at tournaments. At this year\u2019s Wimbledon the Japanese star wore a kimono-inspired<\/a> outfit. At January\u2019s Australian Open she wore a jellyfish-themed outfit she said was inspired<\/a> by her daughter\u2019s bedtime stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka channeled former NBA star Allen Iverson before her US Open first-round victory over Anastasia Zakharova on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":879528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-879527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879527","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=879527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}