Naomi Osaka's garb was the talk of the court, and beyond, as she emerged from the catwalk tunnel in a jellyfish inspired getup. It consisted of (and I quote), "a pleated miniskirt over wide-legged trousers, a wide-brimmed hat with a white veil and a parasol, an on-court outfit featuring a watery turquoise and green palette and soft frills on the warm-up jacket and dress, alluding to tentacles". She says she is discovering beauty in unexpected places like the underwater world and working with artists who care about meaning.
She said, "Fashion for me really opened up when I stopped thinking about how it would be received and started thinking about how it made me feel". And it obviously makes her feel good because she played a great game to move through to the second round. The young Croatian opponent didn't know what hit them. After all, why float like a butterfly and sting like a bee when you can do both like a jellyfish?
Incidentally, if everyone else is trying to stand out, Stan Wawrinka is going for the opposite approach and is practically camouflaged in his blue and white outifit on the Show Court Arena. His match against Arthur Gea (at 21 years old, Gea is nearly half the age of Wawrinka) went for four and a half hours with conditions and momentum changing frequently. Wawrinka appeared to love every minute of the epic five set match with a final set tie-break, even joining in a Mexican wave in an unscheduled pause for Gea to fix his shoe. The stealth approach clearly worked as Wawrinka is back to contest another round, once he gets out of the ice-bath.
The way Jannik Sinner is playing, he really didn't look as though he needed any assistance, but he got a free pass when his opponent, Hugo Gaston, withdrew from the game. Sinner was up two sets (6-2, 6-1) and appeared imperious, when Gaston called for an end to the contest and sat down to sob beneath a towel. Sinner sportingly went to commiserate and said in his post-match interview that he was surprised by the retirment although he could see that Gaston wasn't at his best. It's never nice to see someone abandon a game due to illness or injury, but Sinner bounced back and used the extra rest to breeze through his next round against the hotly-favoured-by-the-crowd Australian, James Duckworth.
Novak Djokovic plays a stunning game, and it is great to see him looking fit and fast and covering the court so fluidly with strength and perfect angles. I only saw the first-round win in straight sets, as I had to work (booo!) when he played the second round during the day, but as the score was exactly the same (6-3, 6-2, 6-2), I imagine it was equally comprehensive. Cue all the comments about how amazing it is that he can still manage to swing a racquet at the ripe old age of 38. He's still my favourite.
Gael Monfils bade farewell to Melbourne Park in a game that lasted for nearly four hours. There is something quintissentially French about the way Monfils shrugs and slouches his way through some spectacular tennis making it seem effortless. The crowd love him, even if he was playing an Aussie, Dane Sweeny. There was an on-court presentation for Monfils as he completed his 20th main draw at this tournament, accompanied by a standing ovation. It was all done respectfully and in a spirit of camaraderie and Sweeney, having secured his first ever win at Grand Slam level, managed to master his emotion in the post-match interview even when told he was up before Monfil's award because 'winners go first, mate.' Stay classy, Australia.
The top-seeded women are killing it, leaving the drama to those lower in the rankings. Number one seed, Aryna Sabalenka has cruised through her first two matches (6-4, 6-1 and 6-3, 6-1) despite being a little frustrated at dropping games due to the high standfards she sets herself. She also had to counter calls from other players for her to be banned due to the illegal Russian war, to which she replied, "Obviously I want peace, and if I could change anything, I would definitely do that. Other than that, I have nothing else to say. I am here for tennis. I have said enough in the past, and I don't want to talk politics here." I have thoughts about this issue, and whether politics can be kept out of sport, but I'm not sure taking up individual cases is the way to address it.
The next three seeds - Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova - have also all won their first two games in straight sets (albeit with Swiatek facing a tie-break in the first round). Thigs seem to be going according to plan.
