Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka (Japanese: 大坂 なおみ, Hepburn: Ōsaka Naomi, Japanese pronunciation: [oːsaka naomi], born October 16, 1997) is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champion, with two Australian Open and two US Open titles. Her seven titles on the WTA Tour also include two at the Premier Mandatory level. At the 2018 US Open and the 2019 Australian Open, Osaka won her first two major titles in back-to-back tournaments. She was the first woman to win successive major singles titles since Serena Williams in 2015, and the first to win her first two in successive majors since Jennifer Capriati in 2001.
For the documentary miniseries, see Naomi Osaka (TV series).Country (sports)
Japan
Beverly Hills, California United States.
October 16, 1997
Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan
180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
September 2013
Right
Wim Fissette (2020–2022; 2024–)
$21,476,686[1]
273–155 (63.8%)
7
No. 1 (January 28, 2019)
No. 197 (April 22, 2024)
3R (2020)
2–15 (11.8%)
0
No. 324 (April 3, 2017)
1R (2017)
2R (2016)
1R (2017)
WG II PO (2018)
RR (2018)
Osaka was born in Japan to a Haitian-American father and a Japanese mother. She has lived and trained in the United States since age three. She came to prominence at age 16 when she defeated former US Open champion Samantha Stosur in her WTA Tour debut at the 2014 Stanford Classic. Two years later, she reached her first WTA final at the 2016 Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo to enter the top 50 of the WTA rankings. Osaka made her breakthrough into the upper echelon of women's tennis in 2018 when she won her first WTA title at the Indian Wells Open. Later that year, she defeated 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams in the final of the US Open to become the first Japanese player to win a major singles title. From 2018 to 2021, Osaka won a major singles title in four consecutive years. In mid-2021, suffering from depression and other issues, Osaka retired from the French Open, dropped out of Wimbledon, and lost early at the US Open. She closed down the rest of her tennis season to focus on family and health. After taking another hiatus in 2023 due to maternity leave, Osaka has returned to competition in 2024.
Osaka is one of the world's most marketable athletes, having been ranked eighth among all athletes in endorsement income in 2020. She was also the highest-earning female athlete of all time by annual income that year. Osaka has gained significant recognition as an activist, having showcased support for the Black Lives Matter movement in conjunction with her matches. She was named one of the 2020 Sports Illustrated Sportspersons of the Year for her activism largely as part of her US Open championship run, and was also included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Moreover, she was the 2021 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she became the first tennis player to light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony. On the court, Osaka has an aggressive playing style with a powerful serve that can reach 201 kilometers per hour (125 mph).
National representation[edit]
Fed Cup[edit]
Osaka made her Fed Cup debut for Japan in 2017, while the team was competing in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I. Japan won all nine of their rubbers to advance out of their round-robin pool. Although Osaka won her singles match in the play-off against Kazakhstan, the team lost their other two matches and was not able to advance.[129] The following year with Osaka absent, Japan was able to defeat Kazakhstan in the same group to advance to the 2018 World Group II Play-offs.[130] In this stage, they hosted Great Britain in a usual five rubber tie. At this point, Osaka returned to the team and won her opening match against Heather Watson.[131] After she lost her next rubber to Johanna Konta, Kurumi Nara was also able to defeat Watson to set up a decisive doubles match. Japan won that final rubber to earn promotion to World Group II in 2019.[132]
Hopman Cup[edit]
Osaka made her Hopman Cup debut in 2018 with Yūichi Sugita. Japan was making their first appearance at the exhibition tournament since 2001.[133] They were grouped with Switzerland, the United States, and Russia, and lost all three of their ties. Osaka's only match win came in singles against Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She also had a big highlight in the mixed doubles match against Switzerland when she served an ace past Roger Federer.[134]
Olympics[edit]
Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony.[135] Coming into Tokyo Olympics, Osaka was ranked 2nd in the world. She lost in the 3rd round of the games to eventual finalist and silver medalist Markéta Vondroušová after two straight set victories.[136]
Coaches[edit]
Osaka was coached by her father Leonard François from the age of three.[3] Patrick Tauma was one of her first coaches after she began playing on the ITF Women's Circuit. He was her coach in 2013 when she reached her first ITF final.[5][143] In 2014, she spent seven months training at an academy run by Harold Solomon, a former top five player and French Open finalist who has coached many top women's tennis players including Jennifer Capriati and Mary Joe Fernández.[144][6] Under Solomon, Osaka defeated Sam Stosur for her first WTA match win.[6] Following her loss at the 2016 US Open where she could not convert a 5–1 lead in the third set, the Japan Tennis Association helped arrange for David Taylor to be her new coach.[138]
After the 2017 season, Osaka switched coaches to Sascha Bajin, who had previously served as a hitting partner to top players such as Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, and Caroline Wozniacki.[145][142] With Bajin as her coach, Osaka won her first Premier Mandatory title and two Grand Slam singles titles.[45][55] She also rose to No. 1 in the world after having never previously been ranked above No. 40.[15] Bajin was named the inaugural WTA Coach of the Year in 2018.[146] Shortly after her 2019 Australian Open title, Osaka surprisingly split with Bajin, saying, she "wouldn't put success over [her] happiness."[68][147] She hired Jermaine Jenkins to be her new coach from March until October. Jenkins had previously worked as a hitting partner for Venus Williams.[148] Osaka temporarily replaced him with her father in September. She won her first two tournaments with him back as her coach.[149][79] She subsequently hired Wim Fissette at the start of the 2020 season.[150]
Endorsements[edit]
Osaka is one of the most marketable athletes in the world. She earned an estimated $16 million in endorsements alone in 2019, which placed her second among female athletes behind only Serena Williams who earned $25 million.[151] The following year, she became the highest-paid female athlete of all time, having earned $37.4 million in total, including $34 million in endorsements.[152][153] Overall, she was the 29th highest-paid athlete in 2020 and the 8th highest-paid athlete in endorsements alone.[154][155]
Nike has been Osaka's apparel sponsor since 2019,[156] having replaced Adidas who had sponsored her for four years.[157] With Nike, Osaka has a clothing collection featuring her monogram logo that uses her initials and is inspired by the Japanese flag.[158][159] The Japanese sporting equipment manufacturer Yonex has supplied her with rackets since 2008.[160] She plays with the Yonex Ezone 98 racket, equipped with Polytour Pro 125 and Rexis 130 strings.[161] Osaka has been represented by the IMG management company since 2016.[162] In 2022, Osaka left IMG, in order to set up her own sports management agency, Evolve, alongside her agent, Stuart Duguid. On June 20, 2022, Osaka announced that she had signed Nick Kyrgios as her first client.[163]
Osaka is a brand ambassador for Japanese automobile manufacturer Nissan and Japanese electronics manufacturer Citizen Watch.[160][164] She also endorses several other Japanese companies, including noodle maker Nissin Foods, cosmetics producer Shiseido, the broadcasting station Wowow, and airline All Nippon Airways (ANA).[165][166][167]
In January 2021, Osaka was named the brand ambassador for Tag Heuer watches, as well as for Louis Vuitton; she appeared in their Spring-Summer 2021 campaign.[168] She is also endorsed by Beats Electronics, Bodyarmor SuperDrink, Mastercard, Panasonic, FTX, PlayStation, Levi's, Airbnb, Sweetgreen, Workday, and GoDaddy. Her endorsement portfolio was estimated to earn Osaka up to $60 million per year.[169] As a result of FTX's $11-billion bankruptcy, Osaka was sued for her involvement.[170][171] In February 2022, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a lawsuit against Bitconnect that the Securities Act of 1933 extends to targeted solicitation using social media.[172]
Panasonic announced the signing of Osaka as brand ambassador in June 2021.[173] She is a promoter of the "Panasonic Green Impact" initiative alongside Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and Olympic figure skater Nathan Chen.[174] Panasonic enlisted the three celebrity athletes for its sustainability mission and they were part of an ad campaign for climate change that included individual commercials and a commercial in which all three athletes are featured.[175][176]
Activism[edit]
Osaka has become 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.[177][91] 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.[92][178] 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.[179]
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.[180] 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.[181][182] Osaka's activism has drawn attention from the scholarly community studying celebrity and advocacy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and following the police killing of George Floyd.[183][184]
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.[185][186]
In March 2021, Osaka spoke out against anti-Asian hate crimes.[187]
(in English and Japanese)
