By: Brittney Corrado, Laila Schwin, and Alisha Bains
March 2, 2021
Naomi Osaka is a Japanese tennis player who, in the last few years, has created a professional record that sent her straight to the top of the tennis ranks. She began her professional career in 2013 at age 15, skipping over junior tournaments and going straight to professional tours.
Osaka was born in Osaka City, Osaka, Japan, on October 16, 1997. Her parents, Leonard Maxime Francois and Tamaki Osaka, met in Sapporo, Japan, in the 1990s. Naomi grew up in The United States but holds Japanese citizenship and represents Japan on the tennis court. She started playing tennis at the age of three-years-old along with her sister, Mari. She was the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam title and became the first Asian tennis player to hold the world’s #1 ranking.
Her father was inspired by Serena and Venus Williams’ performance at the French Open in 1999 and decided that he wanted his children to follow the same path. Both Mari and Naomi played tennis from the age of three, coached and taught by their father, Leonard Francois. Naomi has remarked on how the greatest moment of her career was when she was finally able to beat Mari in a tennis match after losing to her so many times during their childhood.
Right-handed Osaka is currently 23-years-old and is five feet, eleven inches tall. As of February 22, 2021, her world ranking was #2. Equally impressive, in 2020, she earned $37.4 million which earned her the richest sportswoman of 2020. Playing tennis and having sponsorships with Nike and Mastercard helped her to accomplish this feat. Osaka has consistently been one of the highest paid female athletes in the world for several years now.
Naomi had her first major win at a World Tennis Association (WTA) tour event in Indian Wells, California, in March of 2018. Shortly after, in September of 2018, she won the U.S. Open, making her the first Japanese tennis player to have a Grand Slam title. She then went on to win the Australian Open in January of 2019, becoming one of the first players to win back-to-back major titles. Her win at the Australian Open gave her the #1 ranking in the world for women’s tennis, a first for any Asian tennis player, male or female.
Overall, Naomi Osaka has created an amazing reputation for herself at a fairly young age and is bringing a completely new level of tennis to the WTA. Her reputation is sure to be an inspiration for many young girls who aspire to learn the sport of tennis.
Would you want to return a Naomi Osaka serve clocked at 120 miles per hour?
{Editor’s Note: Information for this article was retrieved from Biography.com.}
THE RETURN OF THE EYE 