Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka (Japanese pronunciation: [oːsaka naomi]; born October 16, 1997) is a Japanese professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the WTA for 25 weeks starting in January 2019, the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka has won seven career singles titles, including four majors: two each at the Australian Open and the US Open. She is the first Japanese player to win a major singles title.

Born in Japan to a Haitian-American father and a Japanese mother, Osaka 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 and entered the top 50 of the WTA rankings. Osaka broke into the upper echelon of women's tennis in 2018, winning her first Tour title at the Indian Wells Open, then defeating Serena Williams in the final of the US Open. After winning the Australian Open in early 2019, she reached the world No. 1 ranking for the first time. Following two more major titles, in 2021, Osaka suffered from depression and other issues, which led to a publicly scrutinized retirement from the French Open and withdrawal from Wimbledon. She took maternity leave in 2023, returning to competition in 2024.

Osaka is one of the world's most marketable athletes. In 2020, she ranked eighth among athletes in endorsement income and had the highest-ever annual income of any female athlete. Osaka is also recognized as an activist, having showed support for the Black Lives Matter protests. She was named one of the 2020 Sports Illustrated Sportspersons of the Year for her activism, particularly during her US Open championship run, and was included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Osaka 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).

Early life

Naomi Osaka was born on October 16, 1997, in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan to Leonard François, who is from Jacmel, Haiti, and Tamaki Osaka (大坂 環, Ōsaka Tamaki), who is from Nemuro, Hokkaido, Japan. She has an older sister, Mari, who was also a professional tennis player. The sisters were given their mother's family name, as that was the practice in Japan when only one parent held native citizenship. Osaka's parents originally met in Sapporo when her father was a visiting college student from NYU.

When Osaka was four years old, her family moved from Japan to the U.S. to live with her father's parents in Elmont, New York on Long Island. Her father was inspired to teach his daughters how to play tennis by watching the Williams sisters compete at the 1999 French Open. Having little experience as a tennis player himself, he sought to emulate how Richard Williams trained his daughters to become two of the best players in the world, despite never having played the sport. François remarked that "the blueprint was already there. I just had to follow it," with regard to the detailed plan Richard had developed for his daughters.

François began coaching Naomi and Mari once they settled in the United States. In 2006, when she was about eight years old, her family moved to Florida so that the girls would have better opportunities to train. She practiced on the Pembroke Pines public courts during the day and was homeschooled at night.

When Naomi was 15 years old, she began working with Patrick Tauma at the ISP Academy. In 2014, she moved to the Harold Solomon Tennis Academy. She later trained at the ProWorld Tennis Academy.

Although Osaka was raised in the United States, her parents decided that their daughters would represent Japan. They said,

We made the decision that Naomi would represent Japan at an early age. She was born in Osaka and was brought up in a household of Japanese and Haitian culture. Quite simply, Naomi and her sister Mari have always felt Japanese so that was our only rationale. It was never a financially motivated decision nor were we ever swayed either way by any national federation.

The parents' decision may have also been motivated by a lack of interest from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) when Osaka was still a young player. The USTA later offered Osaka the opportunity to train at their national training center in Boca Raton, Florida when she was 15 years old, but she declined.

Career

2011–2015: First WTA Tour match win

Osaka never competed on the ITF Junior Circuit, the premier international junior tour, and only played in a small number of junior tournaments at any age level. She instead skipped to the ITF Women's Circuit and played her first qualifying match in October 2011 on her 14th birthday. She then made her professional main-draw debut in doubles at her next tournament in March with her sister Mari. Meanwhile, she did not qualify for her first singles main draw until July in her seventh such attempt. Her best result of the 2012 season came at a 10k event in Amelia Island, where she lost to her sister in the semifinals. Osaka has never won a title on the ITF Circuit, only managing to finish runner-up on four occasions. Her first two finals came at the 25k level, one of which was in June 2013 in El Paso, Texas. The other was in March 2014 in Irapuato, Mexico and included a victory over her sister.

In September 2013, Osaka turned professional shortly before turning 16 years old. She entered her first two qualifying draws on the WTA Tour that same month at the Challenge Bell in Quebec and the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. The latter event was her first opportunity to compete professionally in Japan. The following summer, Osaka qualified for her first WTA Tour main draw at the 2014 Stanford Classic. In her tour level debut, she upset world No. 19, Samantha Stosur, in a tight match where she saved a match point in the second set tiebreak and came back from a 5–3 deficit in the third set. She was still just 16 years old and ranked No. 406 at the time. Osaka also won a match as a wildcard at the Japan Women's Open, her only other WTA Tour main draw of the year. These victories helped her progress into the top 250 of the rankings before the end of the season.

Despite not winning another WTA Tour main-draw singles match in 2015, Osaka continued to climb up the rankings. She reached her two highest level finals, the first at the 75k Kangaroo Cup in Japan and the second at the 50k Surbiton Trophy in England. Following these runner-up results, Osaka was ranked high enough to enter qualifying at the last two major singles events of the year, Wimbledon and the US Open. She won her first match at the US Open, but was unable to qualify for either main draw. Nonetheless, Osaka had a strong finish to the year. In October during the WTA Finals, she won the Rising Stars Invitational four-player exhibition tournament, defeating heavy favorite and world No. 35, Caroline Garcia, in the final. Continuing to play in November, Osaka then reached the biggest final of her career at the WTA 125 Hua Hin Championships in Thailand. After a semifinal at a 75k event in Japan, she finished the year ranked No. 144.

2016: Newcomer of the Year, top 50

Osaka began the season playing three tournaments in Australia. Her results during this stretch were good enough to bring her near the top 100, which allowed her to play in WTA Tour-level events all year. Most notably, she qualified for her first Grand Slam main draw at the Australian Open and made it to the third round. In particular, she upset No. 21, Elina Svitolina, in straight sets in the second round before losing to No. 16, Victoria Azarenka. Back in the United States, Osaka received a wildcard into the Miami Open, her first Premier Mandatory main draw. During the event, she won two matches including a victory over No. 18, Sara Errani. With this success, she progressed into the top 100 of the WTA rankings for the first time.

In the clay-court events leading up to the French Open, Osaka needed to qualify for every event she entered. She only managed to do so at a single event, the Charleston Open, but lost her only match in the main draw. Nonetheless, Osaka was ranked high enough to be directly accepted into the main draw of the French Open. In her debut, she recorded her only two clay-court match-wins of the season. She also won the first set against No. 6 Simona Halep, but ultimately lost the match. She then did not play the grass-court season, after suffering an injury shortly after the French Open.