{"id":380251,"date":"2026-01-20T12:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T12:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/380251\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T12:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T12:17:10","slug":"i-am-speechless-naomi-osaka-makes-statement-with-australian-open-walk-on-outfit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/380251\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I am speechless\u2019: Naomi Osaka makes statement with Australian Open walk-on outfit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Two-time champion Naomi Osaka<\/a> stole the show on her return to the Australian Open<\/a> with a spectacular walk-on outfit that left on-lookers \u201cspeechless\u201d. <\/p>\n

Former world No 1 Osaka, who is known for her bespoke costume designs, arrived onto the court at the Rod Laver Arena with her face covered by a wide-brimmed hat and billowing white veil, while holding a matching umbrella. The Japanese star completed the look with flared trousers, which she then removed before her warm-up, before revealing another pre-match jacket, this one featuring a feathered trim. <\/p>\n

\"Osaka\u2019s<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Osaka\u2019s outfit meant she had to have her rackets carried onto the court (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Osaka\u2019s first-round opponent, the Croatian Antonia Ruzic, ranked 65th in the world, appeared stunned by Osaka\u2019s grand entrance at the pre-match coin toss, with her own arrival onto the court completely overshadowed by Osaka\u2019s reveal. Ruzic had emerged wearing a simple sports t-shirt and shorts while Osaka was making a fashion statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a vibe,\u201d said Laura Robson<\/a>, the former British No 1. \u201cI love it, this is a moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also speaking on TNT Sports was Tim Henman<\/a>, who said he was \u201cnot qualified to comment\u201d. <\/p>\n

But he added: \u201cWow, I am speechless. It\u2019s pretty cool. Does it put pressure on your performance?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Naomi<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka arrived for her first round match as if the Rod Laver Arena was a cat-walk (REUTERS)<\/p>\n

Osaka began by letting her tennis do the talking as she took the first three games of the match, winning the first set 6-3. Ruzic, though, responded in the second set to level the match, also taking the set 6-3. <\/p>\n

Osaka, the 16th seed, reached the US Open semi-finals last season, in her best result since returning to the sport <\/a>after becoming a mother in 2023. <\/p>\n

\"Osaka<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Osaka also changed into a special warm-up jacket before the match (AP)\"The<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

The former World No 1 removed the flared trousers before her warm-up (Reuters)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-380251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}