LONDON: Court no. 2 sits at one end of the All England Club, a few hundred meters from the players’ facilities. For Naomi Osaka, that just means a longer runway. The four-time Grand Slam champion arrived on Wednesday in a minimal kimono-inspired look, accessorized with a: obi: following behind him as he walked.On a day when her tennis proved to be as sharp as her fashion, Osaka beat the world no. 225 Anastasia Gasanova, fired eight aces in a 6-3, 6-2 victory to reach the third round of Wimbledon. The 28-year-old Japanese will now bid for a place in the last 16 of the Championships when she takes on Australia’s Daria Kasatkina on Friday.After the toss, Osaka removed the clip obi: before unzipping her floral-applique bomber jacket to reveal an intricately crafted tennis dress with a curved, micro-pleated hem. It’s the latest chapter in her Wimbledon wardrobe after she arrived for her first-round match on Monday in an elaborately designed kimono embroidered with cranes and cherry blossoms.The thing about fashion is that while it’s irritating, it doesn’t move the scoreboard. And importantly, it creates expectations.In tennis, a bold statement can attract as much scrutiny as praise, and players are easily judged for daring to stand out for what they wear.As Osaka walked through the crowd for her first-round match, she heard “wows” through her headphones.The 28-year-old may not run out of doubt, but he’s not immune to noise from the locker room and beyond. Whatever story he chooses to tell through fashion is ultimately amplified by his tennis. Every walk-on is a fashion show until the first ball is hit. After that, the outfit disappears and only the tennis remains.“I feel a little nervous,” he said. “Also I want to get myself used to that feeling so it doesn’t bother me anymore. I think the Australian Open is when I throw myself into it first with the umbrella and the hat and everything.”That willingness to lean into the spotlight is what sets Osaka apart. American sixth seed Taylor Fritz, who arrived for his first-round match wearing a white blazer and pants combination layered over his tennis clothes, assumed the weight of a player when entering that entrance.Fritz said, “you show up fully clothed and get snipped in the first round, you look stupid.”“I saw his walkout. I thought it was really cool,” Osaka said of Fritz.Osaka, whose daughter Shai turns three on Thursday, is of Japanese and Haitian descent and grew up in Florida.On one of his first trips to Japan, the 14:you: seed — an introverted character — struck Harajuku. A lively, pedestrian-only district of Tokyo synonymous with the capital’s youth culture.“In Harajuku I saw everyone expressing themselves through clothes. It was very cool and colorful. That stuck with me and I used that in my fashion experiment,” he said. A few summers ago in New York, Harajuku influences shaped her elaborate US Open outfits. In January at Melbourne Park, she walked onto the court wearing a wide-brimmed hat under a blusher veil and carrying a white parasol, turning the walk-on into a catwalk in a way few athletes before her had attempted.The walk to the court may take a minute or more, but for Osaka, this is where the risk, the identity, and the show begin.