"Superstition" keeps Naomi Osaka in purple over rosier US Open ensemble

NEW YORK—Everything is coming up roses for Naomi Osaka at the 2025 US Open except, oddly enough, her rose-themed Nike dress, which the two-time champion has kept in her closet since her first-round win.

Typically debuting different outfits depending on whether she is scheduled to play during the day or at night, Osaka has won her last four matches in a glittering purple ensemble—a streak that continued into Wednesday evening, when she avenged a 2024 US Open loss to Karolina Muchova in the quarterfinals.

When I asked Osaka where the ruby-rose outfit had gone, the former world No. 1 sheepishly told me she preferred to keep the same kit after a series of strong wins in Flushing Meadows.

“I'm sadly a little superstitious, which is weird, because I did win in the red,” she said in her post-match press conference.

“But I feel like the purple looks better on my skin tone too. I took a poll, and apparently some people like the red roses more.”

Osaka will be back under the Arthur Ashe Stadium lights on Thursday to face Wimbledon finalist Amanda Anisimova, but was unsure if the roses would return.

“I would say I want to bring it back, but I can't promise you.”

The four-time Grand Slam champion has turned heads with increasingly audacious fashions since returning to action from maternity leave in 2024, wearing (among others) a harajuku/Sailor Moon themed outfit at last year’s US Open and floral space buns at Roland Garros in the spring.

Her 2025 fashion campaign has been highlighted by, in addition to the varied florals, a growing army of Labubus named in tribute to tennis trailblazers like Althea Gibson, Billie Jean King, and Arthur Ashe.

“I didn't know that,” she said when told she was a fashion icon in press. “Yeah, I mean, I definitely think that if you look good, you can feel good, but I'm also the type of person that thinks wearing different clothes kind of changes you into different characters kind of.

“Sometimes I feel like a different person if I wear something. Yeah, for me I just feel like it's really fun. I tell literally everyone this, but I grew up in the, like, Serena, Venus, Sharapova, grand reveal era, and it's just fun to continue that.”

The US Open crowd has certainly given Osaka her flowers through five impressive wins, but can she grab the whole bouquet by winning a fifth major title on Saturday?