Naomi Osaka has turned heads all throughout her run to the Australian Open third round, although very rarely for her tennis.
After all, she kickstarted her campaign by walking out onto court in an extravagant outfit, before then being embroiled in controversy with her second-round opponent, Sorana Cirstea.
It’s likely not what the shy, mild-mannered Naomi Osaka would have wanted from this tournament, and even though it was nearly a week ago now, she is still receiving backlash from some pundits for her fashion choices in that opening match at Melbourne.
Naomi Osaka criticised for extravagant Australian Open outfit
Speaking on BBC 5 Live Sport, Jamie Murray laughed as he watched Osaka strut onto Rod Laver Arena, adorned in a white netting and a big hat that covered her face.
It was an outfit that has really divided opinion, but Liza West, a tennis and fashion content creator, certainly did not sit on the fence in her assessment.
Who has impressed you most so far at the Australian Open?
Murray went first, noting: “It was like Mary Poppins on… I don’t know what she was on, but she’s on something. For me, I was just like, what? Like, what are you doing?”
West then twisted the knife: “I would agree with Jamie that for me, I felt like there was an element of disrespect to the sport of tennis, not walking onto the court with your rackets, and creating such a show in front of your opponent on a first round, requesting a night match for the reason being to show off your outfit.
“It just kind of takes away from the show that is the tennis and what we’re all here to enjoy.
“And I know she finds joy in the fashion, but for me, there’s such a rich history between tennis and fashion, and there’s so many other elements of tennis fashion history that we could have kind of weaved into an outfit like this and paid respect to.
Then asked if she liked it purely from a fashion sense, she continued her tirade: “No, I didn’t. To me, it kind of looked a bit cheap, a little bit tacky.
“I didn’t think it belonged on a red carpet, like a Met Gala, and I don’t think it belonged here.”
Coco Gauff was asked if she plans to copy Osaka with an outfit of her own, but seemed to play down the idea.
Naomi Osaka defends criticism about her Australian Open outfit
These are not the only two notable names to have criticised Osaka’s fashion choices, and the noise surrounding her Australian Open entrance has clearly got back to the Japanese superstar.
As such, she felt compelled to take to Threads, where she actually defended her decision to wear this jellyfish-inspired getup.
She wrote: “There’s a demographic that’s been talking about ‘traditional’ tennis outfits and calling me classless for what I wear.
Does anybody else even come close to Alex Eala’s popularity right now?
“To be honest, I see it for what it is. I don’t do this for them though – they will never get it, and I don’t want them to. I do this for the people that are like me.”
