Naomi Osaka recently opened up about a meaningful conversation she had with her father, Leonard Francois, which sparked a wave of introspection.
This was her post:
“Expectations
Recently I had a talk with my dad. It wasn’t a short talk but during that conversation something he said really stuck with me. He had told me how at 59 years old he feels closer to the end of his life than the beginning and its made him want to enjoy and treasure the years he has left. He told me he finds this interesting because he thinks my tennis career is potentially similar.
When we first had this conversation I stared at him blankly, I didn’t really understand what he was trying to say to me and truthfully the topic made me panic. After a couple days a realization suddenly hit me. I’ve been playing tennis since I was 3, playing professionally since I was 14 and I’m 27 now.
I’ve lived almost my entire life playing this sport and I guess it’s true, I am closer to the end than the beginning. When I was younger my dream was to hold the US Open trophy, winning it seemed like a fairy tale so I just wanted the chance to hold it and look inside because my mom had told me a story about there being fairy dust at the bottom of the trophy. Miraculously, I have 2 of those trophies now.
That means I doubled my wildest dreams and yet somehow I let my expectations of myself and the expectations of others prevent me from enjoying the rest of my journey no matter how long or short it may be. Writing this to make a promise with myself to enjoy the times and be at peace traveling and seeing my daughter reap the fruits of my labor.”
Naomi Osaka in 2025
Now the world no.53, Osaka played her last match on the 1st of January 1970 when she lost to world no.50 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 3-6 6-4 6-4 in the 3rd round in Wimbledon (draw).
This season Osaka has achieved a compiled 20-10 win-loss record. Osaka has won 1 title in the Malo. The Japanese was the finalist in Auckland.