Naomi Osaka unleashes inner leopard with custom Nike "huntress" kit in victorious Indian Wells return
The 2018 champion made her first appearance since withdrawing at the Australian Open.
“First of all, it’s a leopard, not cheetah.”
Naomi Osaka stepped out for her opening match with Victoria Jiménez Kasintseva on Friday evening at the BNP Paribas Open. Naturally, she came prepared with a new look for Indian Wells.
Taking Stadium 1, the 2018 champion rocked a leopard-inspired outfit. The head-to-toe ensemble included ear and mouth accessories, a rad pair of matching sneakers and a bag that incorporated the animal print into her custom logo.
But perhaps the most notable element of her latest kit was the intention behind the material on the dress.
“It’s a fabric that shifts when I move. So depending on the light, it will change colors,” she shared during an on-court interview.
Speaking about the inspiration behind the latest creation, Osaka joked with press to “get ready for my long spiel.”
As Osaka recounted, Naomi Campbell's infamous 2009 "Harper’s Bazaar" editorial of her running with a cheetah in South Africa, along with being in the California desert for this tournament, was a starting block for an exploration that ultimately dove deeper.
“Based on who I am, my leopard is more like a huntress, like I'm hunting something, there is something I want to go get,” she explained.
“Then we kind of morphed into the story of, like, there is desert, there is dunes, there is a leopard. Crazy, now we're, like, Mad Max. Then we're like, okay, huntress, hunting. There is the story of pursuing something, and then we just kind of built the world in there.”
On the court, the No. 16 seed ran away from Jiménez Kasintseva after a tight opening set for a 7-5, 6-2 victory. Osaka’s appearance marked her first since the Australian Open, where she withdrew ahead of a scheduled third-round meeting with Maddison Inglis due to a left abdominal injury.
“I was really disappointed, because it's something that I have done to myself before, and I feel like every year I go through that specific injury. Every year I can kind of, like, feel it starting to happen,” she reflected.
Putting an opening 2025 exit behind her here, Osaka now looks to advance to the fourth round for the first time in seven years.