MELBOURNE, Australia – Fashion and friction have been the defining characteristics for Naomi Osaka in two rounds at the Australian Open that couldn’t have been more different.
Osaka fended off Sorana Cirstea in a thrilling 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory at Margaret Court Arena on Thursday evening. Cirstea’s parting shot ended up on the net.
The pair barely exchanged a handshake across the net, with Cirstea glancing toward Osaka for a moment and then turning her head away.
As they walked to the referee’s chair, Osaka asked, “What was that for?”
Cirstea responded directly to the two-time Australian Open winner, angered by Osaka’s attempts to pump himself up during the match.
“Apparently a lot of ‘Come on’ that she was upset about,” Osaka said, “but whatever. I think that was her last Australian Open, so OK, sorry she was upset about it.”
Osaka became emotional during her on-court interview when she was asked to clarify why the 35-year-old Romanian’s tension was increasing. She said: “She could have asked me (to stop).”
“Honestly… no one has ever complained about it before. Also, the referee didn’t tell me I was wrong – the referee said I was fine. Like, I thought we had gone over it.”
She said she was open to talking to Cirstea about it.
“I think her emotions were very high. I also want to apologize,” Osaka said. “I think the first few things I said on the field were disrespectful. I don’t like to treat people disrespectfully. That’s not what I do.”
Cirstea said the issue had been blown out of proportion and she would rather reflect on her decades of experience at the Australian Open.
“There was no drama. It was just a five-second exchange between two players who have been on tour for a long time,” she said. “It stays between us.”
The thrilling finish was in stark contrast to Osaka’s grand entrance that went viral two days earlier for her first-round victory over Antonia Ruzic. Osaka walked onto the field wearing a wide-brimmed hat, veil and white parasol in hand – a design she commissioned from her clothing sponsor Nike.
For the second round, she ditched the couture hat, veil, and parasol, but still wore the jellyfish-inspired dress, a matching warm-up jacket in the same blue and green aquatic tones, and a visor.
“Just something fun that I like to do on the court. I like to express myself through clothes,” Osaka said of her walk-on designs for the competition.
“I’m really glad you love it,” she added, looking up at two women in the audience who had replicas of the wide-brimmed hat and veil that Osaka wore during her walk-on in the previous match. “You guys look really cool, by the way.”
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