Naomi Osaka urged the growing number of social media influencers at the US Open to respect the sport's "etiquette" following her second-round win over Katerina Siniakova. The issue has become a talking point at the tournament following Osaka's opening win over Anastasia Zakharova on Monday, in which viral videos have since surfaced of some influencers not paying attention to the tennis. After overcoming a mid-match wobble to beat Katerina Siniakova 6-2 5-7 6-1 and reach the third round in New York, Osaka said on the issue: "I think obviously if you come to a sporting event, you have to respect the sport.
"I feel like it's common courtesy to read up on the sport, especially the etiquette. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player "I feel like it could be a good thing for people to make the sport of tennis popular to their specific audience, but I think it has to be managed a lot better, especially in the situation like [my] first-round match. "Overall, I think there is huge positives.
You want people to continue to grow the sport. I just think it has to be in a way that everyone knows the rules and the etiquette." Osaka added: "I was going to say, today, the umpire told everyone to be quiet - more than I've ever heard an umpire tell a crowd to be quiet. "I do think that in my first match, I wasn't really paying attention.
I normally just focus on the match and the court, but there was a moment where there was people shouting and stuff, and you could hear it quite clearly. I think it bothered my opponent, too." Against Siniakova, it wasn't quite as headline-grabbing a display - both on and off the court - from Osaka, who sported a more understated entrance outift, for which she is gaining increasing notoriety. The two-time US Open champion had turned heads when wearing a long, white skirt and hooded robe featuring newspaper clippings about her ahead of her tournament opener on Monday night.
But on this occasion, Osaka opted for a more understated, shimmery all-white number which wouldn't have looked out of place at Wimbledon rather than Flushing Meadows. The 13th seed was swiftly into her stride in the first set, breaking Siniakova to love in the fourth game of the opener, which she clinched with a second break of the Czech. Osaka appeared to be cruising to victory in the second when breaking for 4-2 and 5-3 leads, only for her serve to desert her at that time as she was broken three times in a row to ultimately drop the set 7-5.
The four-time Gland Slam winner found her footing again for the decider, dropping only one game to clinch her spot in the next round. Iga Swiatek also stormed into the third round of the US Open, with a clinical 6-3 6-2 win over Nadia Podoroska that took just 71 minutes. It was only the second meeting between the pair - the previous coming in the semi-finals of the 2020 French Open, with Swiatek victorious en route to claiming the first of her six Grand Slam titles.
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