Naomi Osaka brought her Roland Garros ‘fashion show’ to the evening session as she defied her critics once again with a new matching gold sequinned jacket and skirt over her ‘Eiffel Tower’ dress before crashing out of the French Open.
After making her grand entrance for the last two rounds with ivory and coffee trains attached to the back of her Nike outfit, Osaka stepped on to Court Philippe Chatrier for her fourth-round clash with Aryna Sabalenka – for the first women’s match at night at the French Open in three years – with a glittering warm-up jacket, with the pattern running down into a matching tulle overskirt.
The ‘co-ord’, a two-piece outfit that typically features a top and bottom in the same or perfectly matching patterns, colours, or fabrics, looked like an extension of her custom Nike match outfit.
On the other side of the net, Sabalenka continued to sport her two diamond and garnet necklaces and matching earrings, worth £75,000. The world No1 also wore them when she cut her pre-tournament press conference short as part of a media protest to demand more prize money.
Japanese star Osaka was accused of not coming to Roland Garros ‘to play tennis’ by her first-round opponent Laura Siegemund after arriving for her opening match in a flowing black skirt and corset made from her old Nike outfits before unveiling the shimmering gold dress, which Osaka said she thought looked like the famous French monument at night.
Osaka earns £7.5million a year in her deal with Nike and earlier this week posed for night-time pictures in front of the glittering Eiffel Tower.
‘I came here to play tennis, not to put on a fashion show,’ Siegemund had told TNT Sports. ‘And if others want to put on a fashion show, then they should go ahead and do it. That’s totally fine with me.’
Naomi Osaka removes her outer dress ahead of her match against Aryna Sabalenka
She waves to the crowd as she is seen wearing a dress collaborated with Nike and Robert Wun
For her third-round clash against Iva Jovic, Osaka walked out on Court Suzanne Lenglen with a flowing coffee train, a darker shade to the one she wore against Donna Vekic in the second round and a different warm-up jacket, this time in a more synched, peplum style.
‘Shining, as always,’ posted the official Roland Garros account on X, with a video of Osaka striding on to court.
While her first-round opponent took issue with her outfit, Vekic had no complaints after her defeat.
‘Some people take tennis way too seriously. Relax, it’s just an outfit. I think it’s good that she’s doing different things, expressing herself through fashion. Whether it’s good or bad, that’s a different thing, it’s fashion.’
And while on Tuesday the beaten Siegemund had no issue with the actual outfit design or the result, she expressed some frustration at the time Osaka was awarded to take off her outer garments in comparison to how long players are allowed to do meaningful things during matches.
The Japanese star is renowned for her high-fashion outfits at tournaments and had emerged on Court Suzanne-Lenglen for her first match in a black corset with matching skirt.
The black corset and skirt was designed by couturier Kevin Garmanier, who works with upcycled materials, and deconstructed Osaka’s old Nike competition outfits to create it.
The pleated black skirt was made using the inner layers of one of her jackets while her old tennis skirts and dresses were also cut up and reused. The outfit was then covered in hundreds of hand-applied crystals.
Osaka wore a custom Nike dress for her French Open first-round match last Tuesday
She had to remove her billowing black dress from the court, causing a disruption
‘It’s just fun to watch designers work, especially when there is an already pre-existing thing that they have to design around,’ said Osaka, who admitted she brought back-up dresses to Roland Garros just in case as she was worried her golden Nike outfit might blind spectators.
‘When I first saw the dress in real life, I felt like I looked like the Eiffel Tower at night-time when it’s sparkling,’ she said. ‘And then I actually got a little worried, because when the sun hits the dress, it reflects a lot. I was a little scared that the umpire was going to kick me off the court.’
‘Sometimes people say athletes in showbusiness or entertainers or whatever,’ said Osaka. ‘I feel like, for me, Grand Slam walk-ons are the only time that I possibly feel like I’m an entertainer.’
When asked whether she has a new dress for every match, Osaka added: ‘You know, I like to keep people on their toes. I think it’s really fun. I feel like there’s a community that’s been built over my on-court outfits. I just like to keep you guys guessing. I really enjoy that you guys enjoy.’
Sabalenka and Osaka embrace after the straight-sets win for the world No 1
Sabalenka’s serve proved the difference in the match as she booked her place in the quarter-final. She took one hour and 27 minutes to wrap up a 7-5, 6-3 victory in a high-quality contest worthy of the showcase slot, with 59 winners struck between the two.
Sabalenka struck 12 aces and lost just six points on her first serve all night.
‘Naomi is such a great player and played some aggressive tennis,’ said Sabalenka. ‘It was a very tough one but it is amazing to play the night session in front you of you all.’
Before last night, only four of the 60 night slots had gone to women and none of the last 32, not since Sabalenka beat Sloane Stephens in the third round in 2023.
It was so long ago that on-court interviewer Fabrice Santoro even asked Sabalenka after her victory: ‘It’s your first night session here at Roland Garros, right?’
