"She definitely wants attention": Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova hits out at Naomi Osaka for using on-court fashion for virality
WTAFriday, 24 July 2026 at 01:30
Naomi Osaka has courted a lot of attention for her decision to wear what she wears on court mainly for a few reasons. Those being the fact that Osaka has often said in the past that she doesn't like the attention.
Citing mental health struggles and anxiety, she refused to fulfill media obligations at the 2021 French Open and decided to boycott speaking to the media. This has given some since then an easy stick to beat Osaka with as it is very much the idea of wanting to look good vs previous anxieties.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova speaking to Bolshe said that in her view she has created a strategy and definitely wants attention. She said that in theory she won't be going out there wearing what she is wearing if she doesn't want the attention that it brings.
But also while it perhaps can be seen as scathing, she also said that in reality she sees it as respect being given from her end that even if she loses someone is talking about her still and is making a fuss over the outfit even if she loses.
"She definitely wants attention, because I think when you go out in such outfits, you can’t say later no, no, I don’t need attention. Her results have been much better now than before, but nevertheless [when] she still doesn’t reach semi-finals or even the second week, yet people still talk about her.
"I respect her for that and whoever is on her team, who came up with that or maybe she did it herself, because all they talk about is her outfit, even when she only played in the first round."
Osaka agrees in kind
Previously she alluded to this saying that in reality they go hand in hand with each other that she manages to wear these outfits and they court attention. As well as that it also leads the questioning in press conferences about it and that tennis questions can be construed as being a bit of a limit while clothing is limitless.
"From my end, those two kind of go hand in hand," Osaka said. "Obviously the longer I’m in the tournament the more stories I can tell with my outfits anyways. I like to mix and match. I wouldn’t say there’s one above the other."
"Even tennis-wise I feel really good right now. I feel pretty confident. I feel like I’m playing really well. I think on my end, there’s only so many tennis questions you can answer, you know? It’s kind of like the clothing questions are endless a little bit."
Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
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