Osaka blends Wimbledon style and substance in second-round win

Naomi Osaka beat Anastasia Gasanova 6-3, 6-2 at Wimbledon and turned the walk from the locker room to No. 2 Court into a brief fashion tableau before she ever struck a ball. Osaka arrived in an all-white outfit with a wide belt and long train, a more subdued look than the Kill Bill-inspired kimono she wore in the first round, and she removed it before warmups as photographers and spectators leaned in for a closer look.

The match itself was just as controlled. Osaka did not face a single break point, improved to 6-1 on grass this season and moved into the third round as the No. 14 seed in the bottom half of the ladies’ singles draw. Wimbledon’s official player bio lists the third round as her best result at the tournament, reached in 2017, 2018 and 2025, and the WTA said the win gave her back-to-back Wimbledon victories for the first time since 2018.

Osaka said she was trying to “mix it up” with the outfit, but the moment fit a larger pattern that has followed her through the sport’s most tradition-bound stages. Fashion has always sat close to her tennis, and the WTA lists fashion, gaming and photography among her hobbies. At Wimbledon, that combination made the walk-on itself part of the event, yet the attention only mattered because Osaka backed it with clean, efficient baseline play once the outer layer came off.

The timing carried a personal edge as well. Osaka said she wanted to stay in the tournament long enough that her daughter Shai would not have to travel on her third birthday, July 2. Shai was born in July 2023, and Osaka returned to tennis after a 15-month break. Born in Osaka, Japan, on October 16, 1997, she has built a profile that blends image, family and elite results, and this win kept her on a path that could eventually lead to a meeting with top seed Aryna Sabalenka.