Naomi Osaka turns Wimbledon into a runway with a stunning kimono-inspired look

Naomi Osaka of Japan (AP photo) LONDON: Court No. 2 is located at one end of the All England Club, a few hundred meters from the players’ facilities. For Naomi Osaka, it just meant a longer runway. The four-time Grand Slam champion arrived on Wednesday in a slimmed-down, kimono-inspired look both which trailed behind her as she walked.On a day where her tennis proved to be as sharp as her fashion, Osaka overcame world No. 225 Anastasia Gasan, firing eight aces in a 6-3, 6-2 win to reach the third round at Wimbledon. The 28-year-old Japanese woman will now bid for a place in the round of 16 of the championship when she takes on Australia’s Daria Kasatkina on Friday.After the throw, Osaka unclipped both before shedding her floral-embellished bomber jacket to reveal an intricately designed tennis dress with a curved, micro-ruched hem. It was the latest chapter in her Wimbledon wardrobe after she arrived for her first-round match on Monday in a thoughtfully designed kimono with embroidered cranes and cherry blossoms.Fashion is such that while it can turn heads, it can’t move the scoreboard. And it significantly builds anticipation.In tennis, a bold statement can command as much attention as admiration, and players are judged as readily for daring to stand out as for what they wear.Osaka heard a “wow” from her headphones as she walked past the crowd for her first round match.The 28-year-old may not be consumed by doubt, but she is not immune to the noise in and out of the dressing room. Whatever story she chooses to tell through fashion is ultimately amplified by her tennis. Every walk is a fashion show until the first ball is bowled. After that, the outfit disappears and only tennis remains.“I feel a little nervous,” she said. “I also kind of want to get used to the feeling that it’s not going to bother me anymore. I think the Australian Open I went into it head first with an umbrella and a hat and everything.”This willingness to lean into the spotlight is what sets Osaka apart. American sixth seed Taylor Fritz, who arrived for the first-round match in a white jacket and pants combo layered over tennis clothes, acknowledged the weight a player carries with such an entrance.Fritz said, “When you show up in full gear and get shot in the first round, you look really stupid.”“I saw him go. I thought it was pretty cool,” Osaka said of Fritz.Osaka, whose daughter Shai will be three on Thursday, is of Japanese and Haitian descent and grew up in Florida.On one of her early trips to Japan, the 14th seed – an introvert by nature – was struck by Harajuku. A lively pedestrian-only district in Tokyo that is synonymous with the capital’s youth culture.“In Harajuku, I saw how everyone expressed themselves through clothes. It was so cool and colorful. It stuck with me and I used it in my fashion experiments,” she said. A few summers ago in New York, the Harajuku influence shaped her sophisticated outfit at the US Open. In January at Melbourne Park, she walked the court in a wide-brimmed hat under a blush-tinged veil and a white parasol, turning the walk-on into a catwalk in a way few athletes before her had attempted.Walking onto the court may take a minute or more, but for Osaka, this is where risk, identity and performance begin.