Naomi Osaka has always admired Kobe Bryant and she had the luxury to have a fantastic relationship with the basketball legend that unfortunately perished with his daughter Gianna in January in a terrible helicopter crash.
Naomi had a lot of mentoring from Kobe (that she used to call him “Big Bro”) and once she also posted a hilarious video of them playing tennis (Kobe was decisively better at playing his own sport!).
Osaka’s tribute to Kobe with her boyfriend
Naomi posted a heartfelt message with a series of pictures celebrating Kobe’s birthday as he would have turned 42 on Sunday. In one of these pictures, there was Kobe with Naomi’s boyfriend YBN Cordae and Colin Kaepernick seeing the Japanese ace playing the US Open.
Naomi wrote:
“Happy birthday Mamba 💛💜 at the US Open right now and I practiced on Armstrong so I had a lot of memories of you in my box. That was fun, wish we could’ve done it again. Miss you.”
Naomi wasn’t the only tennis player to have a fantastic relationship with Kobe Bryant. Novak Djokovic was also very close to Kobe and the Serbian sensation was absolutely devastated by the news of Bryant’s accident. The world no.1 was struck by the fact that when he was struggling with an elbow injury a few years ago, the American was always there for him giving his full support.
Naomi Osaka vs. Karolina Muchova. PREDICTION, H2H
Naomi will face for the first time Karolina Muchova in her first match in New York. The prediction is Osaka winning in 3 sets.
Naomi Osaka in 2020
Now the world no.10, Osaka played her last match on the 7th of February when she was overcome by Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-0 6-3 in the Rubber 1 of the Fed Cup.
Naomi Osaka’s best accomplishment of this season was reaching the semi-finals in Brisbane.
Muchova in New York, ranking, and results in 2020
At the moment ranked no.26, Karolina has a 3-4 win-loss record in 2020. Muchova is playing in New York where she beat Ann Li 6-4 6-4.