Who is Naomi Osaka?
Naomi Osaka was born in Osaka, Japan, to a Japanese mother, Tamaki Osaka, and a Haitian father, Leonard "San" François who was born in Haiti. Her father immigrate to New York were he went to New York University before moving to Japan, where he met and married Tamaki Osaka, Naomi's mother. Naomi and Mari, her sister, who is also a professional tennis player, have played together in doubles tennis. Osaka moved to the United States at the age of three with her family and currently resides in Florida. She graduated from Elmont Alden Terrace Primary and Broward Virtual High School. Her tennis club was the Harold Solomon Institute (Florida Tennis SBT Academy), ProWorld Tennis Academy.
Her father registered her with the Japan Tennis Association when she began her career. She turned pro in September 2013.. She made her main-draw WTA tour debut at the 2014 Bank of the West Classic, after defeating Alla Kudryavtseva and Petra Martić in qualifying. She was then pitted against 2011 U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur and came from a set down to defeat the Australian in a match lasting 2 1/2 hours.
In the 2015 WTA Finals, she won the Rising Stars Invitational exhibition tournament, defeating Caroline Garcia in the final.
In her Grand Slam debut, Osaka reached the third round of the Australian Open as a qualifier by defeating Donna Vekic and 18th seed Elina Svitolina in straight sets. She lost in the third round to former champion Victoria Azarenka in straight sets. During the clay season, Osaka reached the third round of the French Open. She defeated 32nd seed and future champion Jeļena Ostapenko and Mirjana Lučić-Baroni, both in straight sets. She then lost to former finalist and sixth seed Simona Halep in three sets, despite capturing the first set.
After an injury prevented her from participating in Wimbledon, Osaka reached the third round at the 2016 US Open. She came from a set down to defeat 28th seed Coco Vandeweghe and then defeated Duan Yingying in straight sets, before falling to American Madison Keys in three sets. She had led 5-1 in the third set.
Naomi Osaka at the 2016 US Open. She started the fall Asian swing competing at the 2016 Japan Women's Open, where she conclusively beat Anett Kontaveit in the first round, before falling to Zhang Shuai in straight sets. The next week saw Osaka's breakthrough at the 2016 Toray Pan Pacific Open, where she was given a wildcard and went on to
Photo: Instagram@naomiosaka
defeat fellow countrywoman Misaki Doi, Dominika Cibulkova, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, and Elina Svitolina to reach her first WTA final. In the final, she fell to former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets. With this result, Osaka entered the top 50 of the WTA rankings. Osaka signed a worldwide marketing and management agreement with IMG.
Osaka was voted the newcomer of the year at the 2016 WTA Awards.
At the Australian Open, Osaka won her first round match before losing to Johanna Konta in straight sets. She also lost in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships to Christina McHale. She had multiple second-round and third-round losses at Indian Wells, the Miami Open, and the Volvo Car Open. She qualified for the Women's Stuttgart Open before losing to Konta again in the first round. She was unsuccessful in the rest of her clay season. Osaka lost in the first round of the Nottingham Open, in straight sets. She was able to win a match at the Birmingham Open before losing to Lucie Safarova in the next round. She also lost to Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets at the Eastbourne International tournament.
At Wimbledon, Osaka defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo and Barbora Strýcová before losing to Venus Williams in the third round.
At the U.S. Open, she had the biggest win of her career, defeating defending champion Angelique Kerber in straight sets in the first round. She then defeated Denisa Allertová in three sets before falling to six-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist Kaia Kanepi.[citation needed] In October, she beat Venus Williams in the second round of the Hong Kong Open before being beaten in the quarter-final by the eventual winner, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
In 2018, she started the year ranked 68, and climbed to 19 by September 5, 2018. Since the beginning of the year, she has been coached by Aleksander Bajin. By May 2018, she had been training at Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Florida, while playing for Japan.
After triumphs over Kristína Kučová and 16th seed Elena Vesnina, Osaka reached the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time when she beat Ashleigh Barty in the third round of the 2018 Australian Open. She was beaten by Simona Halep in the fourth round. Competing as a wildcard in the Dubai Tennis Championships, she defeated Kristina Mladenovic and Anett Kontaveit before losing to Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinal.
In the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, she beat former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova in the first round. She said afterward, "There are three people I wanted to play, Venus, [Sharapova] and Serena. Now I'm just waiting to play Serena." She continued her good form with straight-set wins over 31st seed Agnieszka Radwańska and qualifier Sachia Vickery to advance to the fourth round, where she battled through three tough sets to overcome Maria Sakkari, thus advancing to her first Premier Mandatory tournament quarterfinal, where she upset former world No. 1 Karolína Plíšková in straight sets to advance to her first Premier Mandatory semifinal. She then beat world No. 1 Simona Halep in straight sets to advance to the biggest final of her career to date. Osaka won BNP Paribas Open by defeating Russian 20th seed Daria Kasatkina in straight sets.
"Osaka will play against her idol: Serena Williams"
Photo Credit: Bank of the West Classic
In March 2018, in the first round of the Miami Open. Osaka, ranked world No. 22, was unseeded, as was Williams, who was playing her fourth comeback match following the birth of her first child. Osaka won in straight sets. She then lost in the second round to fourth seed Elina Svitolina.
Osaka matched her 2017 performance at the French Open, reaching the third round before losing to 13th seed Madison Keys. In the grass season, she reached the semifinals of the Nottingham Open, where she lost to top seed Ashleigh Barty. She was seeded eighteenth at Wimbledon, and matched her 2017 performance by reaching the third round where she was defeated by eleventh seed and eventual champion Angelique Kerber.
After a string of early losses at Washington, the Rogers Cup, and Cincinnati, Osaka saw a return to form at the US Open, defeating Laura Siegemund and Julia Glushko to match her 2016 and 2017 third-round performances. She then recorded a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, her best ever match win. In the fourth round, she overcame 26th seed Aryna Sabalenka in three sets. In the quarterfinals, Osaka beat unseeded Lesia Tsurenko in just 58 minutes, yielding only two games. With this win, she reached her first major semifinal. In the semifinals, she defeated Madison Keys in straight sets, becoming the first Japanese woman to reach a grand slam final, where she will face Serena Williams for the title.
