dpNaomi Osaka, the trailblazing, 28-year-old, four-time Grand Slam champion, will play in the second week of Wimbledon for the first time today.
She has blitzed through her first three matches without losing a set, losing more than three games in a set just once and looking far from the player she was. At other points in her career, she seemed almost allergic to the grass swing and had seemingly given up hope of having any success on it.
The upturn in results have come alongside a series of Grand Slam fashion statements from Osaka, who has used the walk-on at this year’s three majors to showcase the form of self-expression that she treasures most alongside her tennis. At Wimbledon, she has worn a white ensemble inspired by Japanese ceremonial dress, including a kimono-style dress embroidered with cherry blossoms and cranes, produced in concert with designer Hana Yagi.
Osaka has a creative team and works with the designers herself; Nike produces the on-court dresses. They have become the topic of conversation around the sport and in Osaka’s news conferences.
This is the sort of stuff that would drive a lot of athletes and tennis players mad. They come to the arena to practice a craft they have been training at for almost all of their lives. They’re athletes. They want to talk about their sport.
Not Osaka, at least not entirely. A decade into a big career that has rollicked up, down and sideways, one of the world’s most famous and exposed introverts may have finally found a comfort zone in tennis through what might be her greatest passion.
