‘Important to Look Good’: Naomi Osaka Explains Her Fashion Choices On-Court

4-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka is finally playing tennis again. Coming back from a sabbatical she took to take care of her mental health, Osaka is now in Australia.

Fans are looking forward to seeing her play in the Australian Open, where the Japanese star is the defending champion. However, Osaka will not be playing at the Sydney Tennis Classic warmup tournament.

This news stems from her announcement of pain in her abdominal area following her rigorous preparation for the Grand Slam.

Naomi Osaka explains the importance of looking good on the slopes

“I think it’s really important to look good on court,” Naomi Osaka stated in a video for Australian Open TV. Osaka staunchly believes that if one looks good, one also feels good.

Furthermore, feeling good and looking good also translates to playing well for Naomi Osaka. Moreover, for Osaka, her outfits on the court also have deeper importance than just feeling good about herself.

“It’s really exciting when you play a match and little kids like your outfit,” Osaka expressed. “They want to wear the same thing as you,” she described while smiling.

Then, she explained that her love for fashion comes from the times she used to draw with her sister. “We used to sketch a lot in the car,” she said while describing her road trips with her sister to tournaments.

However, Osaka blames the pandemic-induced quarantine for messing up her fashion sense, since she took to ‘wearing pajamas for like a year’ she is now trying to regain her fashionability, and “trying to figure out how to mix and match”.

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Osaka describes her meetings with apparel giant Nike

Then, the 2-time Australian Open champion revealed that she meets with Nike at least twice a year. In fact, the discussions they have are about her style two years into the future!

“They come with sketches,” Osaka described. “I say what I like and what I don’t like about those sketches,” she said. Of course, neither party loses sight of what matters most- playing tennis.

In that vein, the designers at Nike are always mindful of ensuring that Naomi Osaka’s clothes do not impede her playstyle in any way. “I feel really creative whenever I interact with them (Nike),” Osaka expressed.

Finally, she described her favorite Nike threads that she wore. For Osaka, it was the Nike x Sacai outfit she wore for the 2019 US Open. However, she was “kinda sad” that she didn’t emerge victorious at the 2019 Grand Slam in New York.

Moving on to the upcoming Australian Open, Osaka revealed her 2020 outfit for the Grand Slam Down Under to be her favorite. In fact, there was even a barbie for Osaka’s outfit from the 2020 Australian Open.

When asked what she would wear at this year’s Australian Open, Osaka chuckled, and said, “You can find out when I wear it I guess.”

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