Osaka’s sister and her heartfelt open letter to Naomi

Naomi Osaka is extremely close to her sister Mari. The Japanese sensation never fails to address her older sister and to take advice from her before important matches.

Mari writes an open letter to Naomi via the outlet Glamour sharing how much she loves and admires the former world no.1 for what she has been accomplishing. Mari recalled how inspiring was seeing Naomi never giving up when she was constantly losing to her older sister when they were young without losing the motivation.

In this spectacular letter, Mari goes through what has been happening in their life.

“Dear Naomi,

Watching you do your thing is like watching somebody make their dreams come true in real life. We grew up talking about this—how we would get big, and we would get into fashion, and we would get boyfriends—and you made it real. You materialized it.

I’m not with you as much as I would like, and I don’t always get to be there for these big wins. I know better than to give you tennis advice, but it makes me happy that you still call me before big matches. You tell me you’re nervous. I tell you to picture everyone naked,” she wrote.

The value of never giving up

The Mari talked about how good Naomi is great in never giving up and to always find her way.

“When it comes to tennis, I think this is the most important thing I’ve taught you: how to lose.

When we were growing up—like, from age 3 to age 16—we would play sets every single day. Since I’m the older sister, I always won. But you never gave up. Every single day you said, “I’m going to beat you tomorrow,” without your spirit going down. It was like constant motivation for you. For some people, getting their butt handed to them every day, they might give up. They might be like, “Hmm, this isn’t a good sport for me.” But not you. For you it was just more motivation. So, you’re welcome!

Then you did start winning. I remember you made this face—the most annoying face in the world—that made me want to punch you. But it’s cool. I’ll get you again.

You taught me to never give up. You get in some really bad situations sometimes, and then you put on your game face and just grind through it. You don’t give up at all. Even if you complain, you’ll always be pushing through it.”

“If you say you’re going to do something, you manage to find a way to do it. A lot of people say they’re going to do something, but then they don’t. You always do it. You always find a way. When we were little, you said you were going to win the U.S. Open. And then you did. That’s your whole life, not just tennis. Stay hungry. Keep going for it. Honestly, there’s nothing that can really stop you. Except for maybe me next time we have a rematch,” she concluded.

Naomi Osaka in 2020

Currently the world no.10, Naomi played her last match on the 7^th of February when she lost to Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-0 6-3 in the Rubber 1 of the Fed Cup.

Naomi Osaka’s most significant result of the year was reaching the semi-finals in Brisbane.