Naomi Osaka is a number of issues. She’s a girl. She’s a mother. She’s nice at her job. She’s Black. She’s Asian. And if you’re greater than what easy folks can comprehend, they often don’t know methods to deal with you. Right here’s to tennis studying from their errors with regards to Osaka — however we shouldn’t maintain our breath.
Earlier this week, Osaka gained her first aggressive match because the Fall of 2022, 6-3, 7-6 (9), over Tamara Korpatsch on the Brisbane Worldwide. Osaka hasn’t been round a lot. Coming into the week she’d solely performed one aggressive match because the 2022 U.S. Open.
“It’s a giant change in a single day,” Osaka mentioned about returning to the game as a mom. “For me, I find it irresistible so much as a result of, in a manner, I might say (Shai, her daughter), has helped me develop up a lot so shortly.
“Off the courtroom, I’m extra conscious of individuals and I admire them much more — even my opponents and every little thing,” she added. “On the courtroom, it’s simply serving to me be sturdy and staying within the second extra.”
In case you forgot, ever since she got here on the scene, tennis has gone out of its option to let Osaka know they don’t need her round.
She’s been heckled, which is senseless given how nice she is at tennis, on high of the truth that tennis is meant to be a “subtle” sport with decorum.
Different greats throughout the sport have taken pictures at her, like when Novak Djokovic did it as a result of Osaka wished to pay a effective relatively than do press conferences after matches. And sure “media members” haven’t had any tact when asking questions.
“You aren’t loopy about coping with us, particularly on this format, but you’ve got a number of exterior pursuits which can be served by having a media platform,” Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Enquirer requested in 2021. “Once you say I’m ‘not loopy about coping with you guys,’ Osaka responded, “what does that discuss with?” Osaka was pointing to how Daugherty had began a query with “You aren’t loopy” when addressing somebody who’d develop into one of many faces of psychological well being in sports activities on the time. This is similar girl whose introduction to one of many greatest phases within the sport was met with boos, as folks had been mad when she defeated Serena Williams within the 2018 U.S. Open.
“I simply wish to inform you guys, she performed effectively and that is her first Grand Slam,” Williams tearfully mentioned that day. “Let’s make this the perfect second we will.”
It’s no shock that Osaka stepped away from the sport in 2021 for her personal psychological well being, and took her time along with her being pregnant and returning to tennis as a mom.
As Osaka transitions again to being a full-time participant on the circuit — if that’s what she in the end decides to do — she will likely be again taking part in a sport that’s nonetheless led by a Black girl, as Coco Gauff is the brand new “it” woman. The $22.7 million that Gauff made in 2023 implies that she was the highest-paid feminine athlete.
Osaka’s run in Australia ended when she misplaced within the second spherical, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, to Karolina Pliskova. “The week is unquestionably shorter than I wished it to be,” she mentioned. “I really feel like I’m fairly good the place I’m proper now. Even the final time I performed her, I feel I performed higher at this time.” She went on to say that she seen the match as a “private win” as a result of she was “doubting if I might play with everybody,” simply weeks prior.
“I’ve educated so arduous since giving start, I must take pleasure in these moments,” she defined. “I do really feel completely different. I imply, after all I really feel unhappy, however the disappointment is me being like, ‘Aww, I want I might have executed higher, as a result of I do know I’m spending a lot time away from her (Shai), so I need it to be price it someway.” Motherhood has modified Naomi Osaka. I simply hope tennis has modified sufficient to cease hating on her.
