Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams are always happy to help and they gave their strong contribute during the latest exhibition in Melbourne held to help the people affected by the Australian bushfire.
The new tennis season began in the midst of a heartbreaking occurrence in Australia. The ravaging bushfires affected mostly the following states, Victoria and New South Wales. The bushfires not only led to the destruction of wildlife but also a lot of people were displayed from their occurrence. In light of the disaster, various organizations, individuals, and parties came together to show support by contributing to the bushfire relief efforts.
It is under this cause that Tennis Australia (TA) planned a Pre-Australia Open Event to help in raising funds that would be channeled to assisting those affected by the bushfires. Fortunately, a substantial number of tennis players heeded to the call to come together in support of Australia in the wake of the ravaging fires.
Australian bushfire
“We are working closely with the top players and have already had a great response, with many of them keen to help this incredibly important cause. We look forward to providing an evening of great tennis and entertainment to raise as much money as we can for bushfire relief,” said Craig Tiley, the Australian Open tournament director, and TA Chief Executive.
The tennis exhibition event attracted a significant number of great tennis players. Naomi Osaka, Petra Kvitova, Coco Gauff, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Dominic Thiem, Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Caroline Wozniacki, Alexander Zverev and Nick Kyrgios took part in the exhibition event. The event went on smoothly and was full of excitement.
Naomi Osaka regards Serena Williams as her mom
One tennis player who formed the highlight of the event was Naomi Osaka. The Japanese tennis player was captured sitting alongside Serena Williams. She, later on, she posted the picture on her twitter together with the caption, “Me and my mom lol.”
Naomi Osaka will be hoping to win the Australian Open once again this year. However, the 22-year-old will have to fend off competition from other tennis players, the likes of Serena Williams, who already started her season on a high. The 38-year-old ended her three years title drought by winning the ASB classic showpiece hosted in Auckland, New Zealand. She then donated the prize money ($43,000) to assist the victims of Australia bushfires.
The Australian Open will kick off officially on 20th January. This will be the maiden Grand Slam tournament this season. With Naomi Osaka seeking to retain this title and Serena Williams aiming for her 24th Grand Slam title, the tournament will indeed be exciting.
Naomi Osaka’s ranking and performance in 2020
Ranked no.3, Naomi played her last match on the 11th of January when she was overcome by Karolina Pliskova 6-710 7-63 6-2 in the semifinal in Brisbane.
Naomi Osaka’s best result of the current season was reaching the semi-finals in Brisbane.
Serena Williams’s ranking and performance in 2020
Now ranked no.9, Serena played her last match on the 12th of January when she beat Jessica Pegula 6-3 6-4 in the final in Auckland to win her 73rd career title.
This season Serena has a 5-0 win-loss record. Serena Williams conquered 1 title in Auckland.
Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams played each other 3 times. The head to head is 2-1 for Osaka.
The last time that they squared off, Serena Williams won 6-3 6-4 in the quarter in Toronto (Rogers Cup) in August 2019.
Here the highlights.
Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams |
| Embed from Getty Images |
