Naomi Osaka was slammed for her French Open 'fashion show.' So she gave them another

'Athletes are in show business,' argues Japanese tennis star

Who says sports and fashion can't co-exist?

For tennis star Naomi Osaka — who walked into her Thursday match at the French Open in a metallic gold bomber jacket, a sequined gold playing dress and an ivory train — flashy clothing is part of the game.

"Athletes are in show business," Osaka said after beating Laura Siegemund in her Tuesday opener, where she wore a ceremonial black skirt and sleeveless beaded bodice before revealing her gold dress.

"Grand Slam walk-ons are the only time that I possibly feel like I’m an entertainer."

It's not the first time the Japanese player made a fashion statement on the court, nor is Osaka the first tennis player to raise eyebrows for breaking clothing traditions in a highly traditional sport.

But critics, including her opponent, have slammed Osaka for turning the French Open into a "fashion show."

"I came here to play tennis, not to put on a fashion show," Germany's Siegemund told Eurosport Germany after losing to Osaka. "If other people want to do a fashion show, they can do that. It’s fine for me."

Siegemund said Osaka’s walk-ons were "yet another example of big names being treated differently" in tennis.

Osaka's outfits, and the reaction to them, are part of an evolving conversation about self-expression and femininity in sport, with some athletes unapologetically merging them.

For instance, rugby star Ilona Maher is as famous for her plays on the pitch as she is for her personal style and promoting body-positivity. There's also Simone Biles and the U.S. women gymnastics team, who wore leotards embellished with more than 47,000 Swarovski crystals at the Paris Olympics and competed with long, manicured nails.

And there are track stars Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Sha'Carri Richardson, who boast colourful hair and vibrant manicures.

Never mind the tennis fashion GOAT, Serena Williams, who famously wore a catsuit at the 2018 French Open, which caused French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli to ban the full-body leotards, saying, "one must respect the game and the place."

Osaka received similar criticism in January, when she walked onto the Australian Open court in a jellyfish-inspired outfit, complete with a white parasol and veiled hat.

"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," said a commentator on BBC 5 Live Sport, according to the sport publication Tennis Head.

“It just kind of takes away from the show that is the tennis and what we’re all here to enjoy."

The commentator said that she found the outfit "cheap" and "tacky."

There was so much pushback to Osaka's jellyfish outfit that she posted about it on Threads, writing in January that she "sees it for what it is."

"There’s a demographic that’s been talking about 'traditional' tennis outfits and calling me classless for what I wear," Osaka wrote. "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."

And, after Siegemund's comments about her French Open "fashion show" at Tuesday's match, Osaka gave them another one Thursday with her gold jacket and ivory train.

"I like to keep people on their toes, and I think it’s really fun,” Osaka said in her post-match interview on court, refusing to reveal if she has a new outfit for every possible match of the tournament.

"There’s a community I feel like that’s been built over my on-court outfits. So I just like to just keep you guys guessing."

Osaka won 7-6 (1), 6-4 to reach the third round at Roland Garros for the first time since 2019. Her opponent in that match, Croatia’s Donna Vekic, supported Osaka's style.

"I think it’s good that she’s doing different things, expressing herself through fashion. Whether it’s good (fashion) or bad, that’s a different thing, it’s fashion," Vekic told Germany's dpa International.

"Some people take tennis way too seriously. Relax, it’s just an outfit. It’s not such a big deal. She has the opportunity to do that, so why not?"

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Natalie Stechyson has been a writer and editor at CBC News since 2021. She covers stories on social trends, families, gender, human interest, as well as general news. She's worked as a journalist since 2009, with stints at the Globe and Mail and Postmedia News, among others. Before joining CBC News, she was the parents editor at HuffPost Canada, where she won a silver Canadian Online Publishing Award for her work on pregnancy loss. You can reach her at natalie.stechyson@cbc.ca.

With files from the Associated Press