Naomi Osaka’s Allen Iverson-Inspired & Her Other 2026 US Open Fits Are Amazing
Naomi Osaka's US Open fashion showcases her identity, from Iverson-inspired looks to a Grand Slam-long fashion story.
Black News 
Tennis has always been one of the rare sports where what players wear can become almost as memorable as what they do on the court. From Serena Williams’ catsuit and denim skirt to Andre Agassi’s loud colors and now Naomi Osaka and the current generation’s designer collaborations, tennis fashion gives athletes a chance to show some personality inside a sport built around individual competition. There are no helmets covering their faces or identical team uniforms to blend into, so every dress, sneaker, jacket and accessory can become another piece of an athlete’s identity. At the US Open in particular, where New York fashion and sports culture naturally collide, players have even more room to make a statement.
Few current players have taken advantage of that freedom as Naomi Osaka has. Her Grand Slam entrances have become events of their own, and 2026 has arguably been her most ambitious fashion year yet. She opened the season with a jellyfish-inspired Australian Open ensemble, wore a dramatic black-and-gold look at Roland Garros and arrived at Wimbledon in a kimono-inspired outfit influenced by her Japanese heritage and Kill Bill. By the time she got to New York, there was already an expectation that Osaka had something special planned.
She definitely delivered. For her first-round match against Anastasia Zakharova, Osaka walked into Arthur Ashe Stadium wearing a custom Who Decides War creation styled by Law Roach: a distressed gray hooded top paired with a flowing white tulle skirt, with newspaper clippings chronicling moments from her own career sewn throughout the garment. The outfit mixed princess-like drama with the oversized swears and streetwear aesthetic associated with Allen Iverson, the NBA legend at the center of Osaka’s inspiration. Designers Ev Bravado and Téla D’Amore reportedly had roughly 30 hours to develop the look.
Once Osaka shed the entrance piece, the Iverson homage became even clearer. She wore an all-black Nike tennis kit with her hair in cornrows, a headband and athletic sleeves that immediately brought back memories of The Answer during his Philadelphia 76ers prime. Osaka explained that Nike’s US Open collection carried a basketball theme, which gave her the perfect opportunity to pay tribute to someone whose influence went well beyond hoops. “Nike said basketball, so I said, ‘OK, you want basketball, I’ll give you basketball,'” Osaka said after beating Zakharova 7-6, 7-6.
That connection was intentional. Before the tournament even started, Osaka showed up to media duties wearing a throwback Iverson SLAM T-shirt along with a vintage 1997 US Open hat she found on eBay — the year Osaka was born. She called Iverson a “trailblazer” and credited him with helping change how NBA players dressed and how athletes could use clothes to express themselves. Considering Iverson’s cornrows, jewelry, oversized clothes, and unapologetically hip-hop style, which famously challenged what professional athletes were “supposed” to look like, it makes sense that Osaka — another athlete who consistently brings her own identity into traditionally conservative spaces — would gravitate toward him.
Osaka was already turning the US Open into a fashion shoot before playing a point. During Fan Week and media activities, she posed around the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in several more stylized looks, including elaborate outfits photographed in the media center, Arthur Ashe Stadium and even the food court. The looks are more off-court fashion than actual match kits, but they continue the same idea: Osaka is treating an entire Grand Slam appearance as one connected fashion story rather than simply putting on something different for match day. And because her first-round victory moved her into the second round against Katerina Siniakova, she has already teased that there are more outfits coming.
The best part may be that Iverson himself noticed. Osaka admitted before the tournament that she had never actually spoken to the Hall of Famer and joked that she hoped he would see what she had said about him. He did. After her tribute went viral, Iverson responded on Instagram, calling himself a “BIG FAN” and saying he “can’t wait to meet” Osaka. It was a fitting full-circle moment: one athlete who helped change the way sports looks getting his flowers from another athlete now pushing those same boundaries in tennis. And if Osaka keeps winning, the 2026 US Open fashion show is only getting started.
