MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Naomi Osaka made a fashion statement and quite an entrance to the Australian Open, wearing a wide-brim hat, veil and holding a white parasol as she walked onto Rod Laver Arena for her first-round match on Tuesday.
The No. 16 seed then went on to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 against Antonia Ruzic in 2 hours and 22 minutes.
A symbolic butterfly on her hat and umbrella was a reference to her Australian Open title in 2021, she explained in her on-court TV interview. The colors and tendrils on her dress represented a jellyfish in a design inspired by her daughter, Shai.
Osaka said her clothing sponsor, Nike, “let me design this one.”
“It’s modeled after a jellyfish,” she said. “I’m just so grateful I get to do the things I love.”
Osaka has won two of her four Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021, the year a butterfly landed on her nose during a third-round match and became one of the iconic images of that tournament.
In social media posts Tuesday, the women's tour said Osaka's arrival was an iconic “diva-worthy” entrance, and described the hat as being “decorated with a butterfly and worn low over the eyes à la Beyoncé in the singer’s ‘Formation’ video.”
More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
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