Naomi Osaka was born in Japan. She was born to a Japanese mother and a Haitian father, and she moved to New York at an early age of 3.
Why is Osaka so popular in Japan?
Osaka has become hugely popular in her native Japan after she beat the American Serena Williams in the finals of the US Open in 2018 and just a few months after that she triumphed at the Australian Open. With these 2 back to back wins, her popularity skyrocketed. Japanese feel proud of the fact that a Japanese player reached the no.1 position in the world.
Osaka’s performance at the Australian Open was on the top page of all the Japanese newspaper. Her on-court performances mixed with her sense of humour has sent her popularity skyrocketing. Naomi endorses major brands like Adidas, Nissan, Yonex, Citizen, Nissin, and Shiseido.
Osaka became the first Japanese to win a U.S. Open title in Japan, which was an incredible achievement for her. With the next Olympic games slated to take place in Tokyo in 2020, she could well be the face of the Games.
Osaka has been very popular in Japan not just because of her performances on the court but also because of her quirky sense of humour.
Recently, though Naomi Osaka lost to Serena Williams in quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup, she thought that it was ‘the most fun of the year’ for her. Naomi believes that its wrong to feel bad after a loss in a match. She says that life is much more than just the tennis court.
Naomi says that the Japanese press has really been very attentive to her and she was a very popular person even when she ranked 100th in the world. She says:
“I’ve been really lucky because I had to do a lot of Japanese press, even when I was No.100. That wasn’t normal, like having to do press when you’re ranked that low is a bit strange.”
She realised that it was not all about performances in tennis court but a lot of other aspects of life and the Japanese press always asked her a lot of interesting questions about a lot of things apart from tennis. She says:
“But it got me used to everything. I kind of like talking to you guys; you ask me interesting questions about me, my sweater. You’re all always keeping it real.”
