Naomi Osaka 10 Personal Facts, Biography, Wiki
Japanese tennis player Born: October 16, 1997 (age 23 years), Chuo Ward, Osaka, Japan Height: 1.8 m Grand slams won (singles): 4 Nationality: Japanese Coach: Wim Fissette (2020–) Parents: Leonard Francois, Tamaki Osaka Osaka was born to a Japanese mother and a Haitian father who moved to New York in the U.S. when she was three years old. Now she is based in Florida. In 2013, Osaka started her professional career in tennis. With a height of 180cm and a powerful serve and a strong forehand, the world saw Osaka as a rising star. In the 2016 US Open, a serve by her was timed at 201.1km/h. She qualified for the Women’s Tennis Association tour championship in July of 2014 at Bank of the West Classic for the first time. In the first round match, Osaka defeated Samantha Stosur who was ranked 19th in the world and was also the 2011 US Open Champion. In January 2016 at the Australian Open, Osaka qualified to enter her first Grand Slam, rolling into the third round. During the day season, she also reached the third round of the French Open and the US Open. In September of that same year, Osaka entered the Toray Pan Pacific Open, where she was given a wildcard entry and rolled into her first WTA final. She was the first Japanese woman to reach the final since Kimiko Date won in 1995. Osaka placed 2nd in the final and was voted the WTA “Breakthrough of the Month.” Osaka won “Newcomer of the Year” at the 2016 WTA Awards. In March of 2018, Naomi became the first Japanese woman to win the Indian Wells Masters in California (USA). A Premier Mandatory, Indian Wells is widely considered the second biggest event in tennis, right behind the Grand Slam.
Naomi Osaka 10 Pics, Photos, Pics
Naomi Osaka 10 Fast Facts, Biography, Wiki
Osaka had a shy, reserved personality in her early years on the WTA Tour. Her former coach Sascha Bajin was initially confused by her personality, saying, “I thought she was a little bit more of a diva because she didn’t talk much. She doesn’t really look at someone’s eyes, but that’s just because she was always so shy … Back then I didn’t know for what reason.” Osaka is also very frank and is regarded as having a dry sense of humor. During her 2018 Indian Wells Open victory speech, she began by saying “Um, hello … I’m Naom … oh never mind” and later noted, “This is probably going to be the worst acceptance speech of all time” after being worried about forgetting whom to thank, and appearing to nearly forget to thank her opponent Daria Kasatkina as well as one of her sponsors Yonex. Osaka has since made efforts to overcome her shyness, while also becoming a leading activist in professional tennis. Her decision to withdraw from the 2020 Cincinnati Open in New York to raise awareness for the police shooting of Jacob Blake led the tournament to postpone all Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) matches for a day in support of her cause. At the 2020 US Open beginning the following week, each mask she wore as she walked onto the court (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) prominently displayed the name of an African American who had been killed in the preceding few years, the majority in the year before the tournament, and the majority killed by police. She highlighted Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Philando Castile, and Tamir Rice; and was praised directly by the parents of Martin and Arbery. Prior to these acts of activism, Osaka had also travelled to Minnesota to attend the protests of the murder of George Floyd. She outlined her personal reasons for supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and protesting against police brutality in an op-ed in Esquire magazine. Osaka was named a 2020 Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year for her activism alongside the year’s other prominent activist sports champions LeBron James, Breanna Stewart, and Patrick Mahomes, as well as medical worker Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. She was also honored as one of the Time 100 most influential people in the world in 2020 for her activism, having also been named to the list in 2019 for representing professional tennis well as an excellent role model and a major champion. Osaka has been featured as the main character in a manga series published by Kodansha in Nakayoshi, a leading Japanese shojo magazine. The series is being drawn by Futago Kamikita and was made with the help of Osaka’s sister Mari. The first edition appeared in the February 2021 issue of the magazine, which was released in December 2020. Osaka is in a relationship with American rapper Cordae. In 2021, Osaka became a co-owner of the North Carolina Courage in the National Women’s Soccer League, the top level of the women’s sport in the U.S.
