Custom kits, $400,000 jewellery and battling online trolls: How Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka’s eye-catching fashion statements are helping them transcend tennis

For Naomi Osaka, preparations on the eve of this year’s US Open were a little unorthodox.

As well as hitting the practice court and allowing time for rest and recovery, the four-time Grand Slam champion prowled a deserted Billie Jean King National Tennis Center looking for backdrops for a series of glamorous high-fashion photoshoots. Dressed by Hollywood superstar Zendaya’s stylist Law Roach, Osaka posted on Arthur Ashe, by concession stands, and, most improbably, in the creaky media workroom.

All of this was building to the ultimate spotlight. As she has done at this year’s Australian Open, Roland-Garros, and Wimbledon, Osaka walked out for her first-round match in a custom ensemble designed for the Grand Slam, this one inspired by basketball legend Allen Iverson and also styled by Law. Although she secured the necessary win, the match wasn’t nearly as memorable as the outfit, a sleeveless hoodie embroidered with burnt press clippings, over a full tulle ballgown skirt.

With her walk-on outfits this season, variously inspired or compared to jellyfish, the Eiffel Tower, Lucy Liu in Kill Bill, and the Japanese art of paper-cutting, Osaka has created a feverish atmosphere around the moment she steps onto court. Loved or loathed, the walk-on outfits have become part of Osaka’s package, as questioned and dissected by the media and online as her forehand – or maybe more.

But Osaka isn’t alone in using fashion to distinguish herself from her peers off the court. World No1 Aryna Sabalenka played her first round match wearing a staggering $400,000-worth of jewels on her neck, wrist, and ears. The ‘Silhouette’ suite was made for her by her jewellery sponsor Material Good, and is the fourth of four specially-designed sets made for Sabalenka to wear at each of the Grand Slams. Wimbledon’s, naturally, featured emeralds.

For players at the very top of the game, tennis is not the only thing fans are looking for on-court at the majors.

The headline-catching choices that both Sabalenka and Osaka have made are increasingly allowing them to transcend tennis, crossing into the mainstream with fashion and pop culture fans dissecting their tournament-specific looks on social media. They’re ripe for the water cooler too: tennis lovers in mothballs might clutch their pearls, but people are tuning in, with passing interest, to see what Osaka is wearing this time, or leafing through articles about Sabalenka in Vogue, TIME, or Vanity Fair.

Osaka has a particular platform for making sure she stands out on court, as the only active Nike player with a unique deal that affords her custom tennis kits. So exclusive that they’re not always for sale, her Australian Open dress sold out in the blink of an eye. Sabalenka, while given a one-of-one colour choice, isn’t so lucky, as she found out at this year’s Roland-Garros. After debuting her kit on TikTok in a splashy reveal for her followers, she was pipped to the court when world No93 Oksana Selekhmeteva wore the black and red mesh ballet-style dress in her defeat to Marta Kostyuk, purchased off the rack.

‘Let’s wait for 2027, because that will be sick!’ Sabalenka teased when asked about not having exclusive looks at the 2025 WTA Finals. For another year then, she must grin and bear it.

Of course, fashion statements do not solely benefit those wearing the clothes. Coco Gauff is an ambassador for Italian high-end fashion brand Miu Miu, who pounced on the opportunity to partner with her kit sponsor New Balance on a number of custom outfits since 2025 – a move that might have Gucci ambassador Sabalenka wishing Nike was a little less stringent in its aversion to partnerships. The American star wore one of these at this year’s Wimbledon, landing her on a raft of ‘best dressed lists’, with fellow player Jelena Ostapenko telling Daily Mail Sport it was her favourite of the tournament. More pertinently, it boosted Miu Miu’s visibility and ties to a sport which is only growing in popularity and cultural prominence.

Traditional sponsors are also leaning in to the power of a unique fashion moment can have for a growing star. Nike has singled out rising Filipina talent Alexandra Eala for special recognition, as she quickly becomes one of the most famous faces in her region as the first player from the Philippines to break into the top 20 and make the fourth round of a major. At Wimbledon last year, she was given a white hair accessory in the shape of a sampaguita – her country’s national flower – to wear for her Centre Court debut. In New York this week, she stepped onto court to play an exhibition match during Fan Week wearing trainers customised with a tag which commemorated her first WTA title, which she won at the start of the month in Washington.

Even the men’s tour are getting in on the action. World No14 Lorenzo Musetti was the picture of Italian elegance when he admirably sported a white leather Bottega Veneta bomber jacket for his Wimbledon walk-on as temperatures hit 35 degrees in south London. German outfitter Hugo Boss looked to outdo this the following year by providing Taylor Fritz with a full white suit to step onto court in, the Roger Federer throwback only a little dented by the fact that the trousers were Velcro tear-off for ease. There are still teething problems on that side of the draw, with Matteo Berrettini’s Boss outfit banned by Wimbledon for being the wrong shade of cream.

But as anyone making a fashion statement knows, execution can be hit or miss and the online fashion police are unafraid of twisting the knife. In New York, Sabalenka has had to stand firmly by her night-session dress, which was dubbed ‘trashy’ by critics online.

‘I love that it’s different. I love that this outfit is bold,’ Sabalenka said before the start of the tournament. ‘Whatever people saying on Internet, I heard they probably didn’t like it.

’It’s like it’s funny for me, because when Nike was pretty simple and standard, they were complaining. When Nike went really cool and fun and trying to get back, they always complain.’

Either way, people are talking about it. In 1989, Andre Agassi was mocked for taking part in a Canon advert where he declared ‘image is everything’. No one’s laughing now.