Naomi Osaka wowed spectators at Roland Garros as she made yet another sensational entrance for her French Open first-round clash.
The Japanese star is renowned for her glamourous outfits at tournaments and failed to disappoint once again as she emerged on Court Suzanne in a black corset with a matching skirt – made from cuttings of her old tennis outfits.
Before her match began, she unzipped the corset to reveal half of the shimmering gold custom Nike dress covered in sequins and posed for pictures before removing the skirt before the opening set against German Laura Siegemund.
The black corset and pleated skirt was designed by couturier Kevin Garmanier, who works with upcycled materials, and deconstructed Osaka’s old Nike competition outfits to create it.
The skirt was made using the inner layers of one of Osaka’s jackets while her old tennis skirts and dresses were also cut up and reused. The outfit was then covered in hundreds of crystals by hand.
Naomi Osaka wowed fans as she competed in the first round of the French Open in a custom gold Nike dress
The outfit was designed by couturier Kevin Garmanier, who works with upcycled materials
The four-time Grand Slam winner initially made her way out to court in a black corset with a matching skirt made from cuttings of her old Nike outfits
‘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 was worried her golden Nike outfit might blind the umpire.
‘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 added. ‘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 show business 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.’
Osaka is renowned for catwalk entrances at Grand Slams and famously wore a jellyfish-inspired outfit at the Australian Open in January.
The 28-year-old arrived at the Rod Laver Arena with a wide-brimmed hat with a white veil and parasol before warming up in a frilled jacket and dress that looked like tentacles.
At Indian Wells, she arrived on court with tribal-inspired jewellery over her lips, nose and ears alongside a black mesh and cheetah-print Nike dress, trainers and jacket.
Osaka is hugely into her fashion and even turned heads at this year’s Met Gala with a ‘skin-shedding’ performance on the entrance steps where she wore a white coat covered in red feathers to resemble blood before removing it to reveal a blood-red and crystalled gown designed to look like exposed muscle, tendon and sinew.
