PARIS — Naomi Osaka’s fashion statements have caused such a stir at the French Open that the Japanese star spends nearly as much time talking about her skirts as she does her tennis game these days.Not that she minds. When asked if she had a fresh look to debut, after sashaying out for her three matches thus far wearing three different iterations of designer jackets and skirts atop her sparkly gold Nike dress, Osaka grinned.“You guys keep asking, and I keep providing,” Osaka said in a news conference Saturday. “Why are we still asking?”Good thing Osaka plans in advance. On Monday, she will face world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in her first career appearance in the fourth round of the French Open. The blockbuster bout will be the first women’s match featured in a night session at Roland Garros since 2023, and just the fifth overall since the French Open added them in 2021.Osaka has a night session outfit ready to go. Of course she does.Aside from bringing the off-court self-expression she finds essential to surviving the slog of an 11-month tennis season, Osaka’s sequined outfits have been a shiny distraction here in Paris. On Saturday, she reached the fourth round of the French Open for the first time in her career with a 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-4 win over 18-year-old American Iva Jović, during which she flexed some veteran muscle. She hadn’t so much as made it past the second round since 2019.But between her clothes and the seismic upsets that have lent a wacky bend to this tournament, Osaka’s career milestone slipped through with relatively little fanfare.The four-time Grand Slam champion’s time under the radar ends Monday, when all eyes will be on her match with Sabalenka. After an eight-year gap between their first meeting in 2018 and their second this March, Osaka has now played, and lost to, Sabalenka twice this season. She took a set off of her at April’s Madrid Open, before the world No. 1 bounced back.“I’m just ready for the fight. I’m ready to go out there to fight for that match, for that win,” Sabalenka said in a news conference.
Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka collide in a French Open duel of pure star power
Osaka and Sabalenka will take to Court Philippe-Chatrier for the first women's match in a night session since 2023. They will light it up.














