PARIS — For the women stars, whose dress sense has drawn as much attention as their playing style, the Roland Garros fashion spotlight moves to the court named after the embodiment of tennis chic, Suzanne Lenglen on Saturday.
On the men’s side, 17-year-old Moise Kouame will try to prolong his white-knuckle ride through his home-town major, while the Cerundolo brothers will attempt to keep marching in step.
Naomi Osaka may be a four-time major winner, but increasingly she is tying her image to what she wears as much as how she plays. The way she enters the court in her first match at a major – a mix of model’s catwalk and boxer’s ring walk – has become her brand.
After a jellyfish-inspired outfit before her first match at the Australian Open, she strode out at Roland Garros with an “Eiffel Tower at night” ensemble that revealed a sparkling, gold-accented playing dress.
Osaka won, against an unhappy Laura Siegemund, and then, still aglitter, beat Donna Vekic, also in straight sets, AFP reported.
If she beats 17th-seeded American Iva Jokic, Osaka would advance to the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time. It would be a playing affirmation, even if she skirts a fashion statement.
In the last 16, the winner would face either the women’s No 1 Aryna Sabalenka or Australian Daria Kasatkina.
Sabalenka dominates women’s tennis but her only clay-court victories have come in Madrid. The Belarusian lost last year’s Roland Garros final to Coco Gauff.
Yet much of the attention at the boiling start of Roland Garros was on her dress and her necklaces.
“The dress is super light,” she said after her second-round victory. “I don’t feel the dress on me. I was thinking it’s going to be super hot wearing black, but it doesn’t feel like black colour on me, so I feel really comfortable. And diamonds, I don’t really feel the heaviness of it.”
The leading women are followed onto Lenglen by Kouame, fresh from subjecting home fans to a five-set second-round rollercoaster. His erratic, youthful, energy should provide shrieking French supporters with more thrills as he takes on Chilean Alejandro Tabilo.
Gauff continues her so-far serene title defence on Philippe Chatrier – usually the most desirable address at Roland Garros. She faces Anastasia Potapova.
