NEW YORK — Everything came up roses for Naomi Osaka in her US Open first-round match.
The two-time champion entered the court Tuesday with sparkly red roses in her ponytail, more sparkles on her red outfit and even a matching Labubu that she named “Billie Jean Bling.”
Osaka’s tennis looked good, too. The No. 23 seed from Japan beat Greet Minnen 6-3, 6-4.
Osaka said the work on her Nike outfit started long ago, but the plan for her hair accessory — which she removed before the match — came together more recently.
“It was really elaborate, because the crystals are really hard to do on a performance outfit,” Osaka said. “I just thought it would be really fun to do [for] New York under the lights. I’m glad that my first match was a night match, because this outfit was really fun to play. This is my night outfit, so hopefully I’ll wear my day outfit next time.”
Sometime in the past couple of weeks, she consulted her stylist about the idea for a ponytail with roses in it.
“I was like, ‘Do you think this is possible?’ Maybe it was two weeks ago,” Osaka said. “Yeah, we kind of just toss ideas around. Obviously, the outcome is way better than I could have imagined.”
Just not quite right to play tennis in.
“I did always know I was going to take the hair off, because it is really heavy,” Osaka said. “There were a couple of times that I played in braids, and even that was kind of borderline. So yeah, I just did it for the presentation.”