Naomi Osaka had an outstanding 2018 to have attracted the attention beyond the tennis circles.
The World no.1 received the prestigious Laureus Breakthrough of the Year award in Monaco after beating the likes of Ana Carrasco (motorcycling), Sofia Goggia (skiing), Jakob Ingebrigtsen (athletics), Geraint Thomas (cycling) and Brianna Williams (athletics).
The video message
Naomi is currently in Dubai to play the local WTA event, and therefore she was unable to personally collect the award, but she released a nice thank you video.
“I want to give a huge thank you to the Laureus Academy for giving me the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year award. I want to thank my coaching staff and my family for being with me for these entire years.
I also want to [acknowledge] the other nominees, and thank the Laureus Academy for nominating me for such a prestigious award.”
Want to hear from the #Laureus19 Breakthrough of the Year!?
Here’s @Naomi_Osaka_ 👇 pic.twitter.com/FwQuwNzWjQ
— #Laureus19 (@LaureusSport) February 18, 2019