Naomi Osaka stands tall as’Tennis Empress’ from’Shame of the Family’

Osaka Naomi wins the Australian Open tennis women’s singles. Photo = AP PHOTO

[이데일리 스타in 이석무 기자] Naomi Osaka (24, Japan) stood out as a new’empressor’ in women’s tennis, where solo performance by Serina Williams (40, USA) ended.

On the 20th, Osaka won Jennifer Brady (26, USA) in the women’s singles finals at the Australian Open Tennis (total prize of 80 million USD, about 66.9 billion won) held at Road Laver Arena in Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia on the 20th. Pressed with -3) and climbed to the top.

With this, Osaka won the 4th major tournament in history starting with the 2018 US Open. Looking at the Australian Open alone, it is a return to normal in two years following 2019. Osaka has so far won the Australian Open twice and the US Open twice. Of the active female players, only two players, Serina Williams (23 times) and Venus Williams (7 times), have won more singles in major tournaments than Osaka.

As a tennis player, Osaka’s greatest strength is Kang Serve. In this Australian Open, he recorded the highest sub-speed of 197 km/h. It is second only to Serena Williams, who recorded 202km. The top speed of the serve was slightly behind Serena Williams, but the overall power and speed of the serve were rather superior. Osaka is the only female player who has succeeded in 50 sub-aces in this tournament.

However, Osaka’s real weapon is strong mentality. Osaka has never been shaken in big competitions. Rather, they enjoy the pressure and the spotlight that focuses on them. Osaka won the finals of the majors four times. The 4th round of the majors finals has been 30 years since Monica Celes (USA) in 1991.

Osaka’s strong heart is not unrelated to other growth backgrounds. Osaka is a mixed race with a Japanese mother (Osaka Tamaki) and a Haitian father (Leonardo Francois). While attending college in the United States, my father met his mother, who traveled to Hokkaido, Japan.

The conservative mother’s family strongly opposed marriage to foreigners, especially blacks, as’family shame’. The mother married without parental consent and gave birth to three daughters in Osaka, Japan. The youngest of the three sisters is Naomi Osaka.

Osaka, who inherited his mother’s surname, left for the United States at the age of 3. Osaka has little memory of Japan as a child. He is also not good at Japanese. Still, he did not give up his Japanese nationality. Originally, he had dual citizenships in Japan, the United States and the United States, but recently gave up his American nationality. It was because I decided that it was advantageous to get sponsors from Japanese companies. Among the sponsors that actually support Osaka, Japanese companies such as All Japan Airlines, Shiseido, Nissan, and Citizen are many. Rackets, which are more important than life for tennis players, are also sponsored by Japanese products, Yonex.

Osaka also voiced an active voice in social issues. In particular, he took the lead in anti-racism movements. In August of last year, an unarmed black man was attacked by a white police officer in the United States, and to protest the incident, he expressed his intention to miss the match ahead of the WTA Tour Western and Southern Open semi-finals. The organizers of the event also respected the will of Osaka and did not hold the event for a day. At the US Open last year, they wore masks bearing the names of victims of racial discrimination in the United States.

Osaka’s opposition to racism isn’t just for the United States. Rather, he faced more discrimination in Japan, which he regards as his native country. Through social media and the like, ridicule about skin color such as’Are you Japanese with black skin?’ A Japanese comedy program even joked about’bleaching’ when asked,’What does Osaka need?’ Enraged Osaka made this known to the world through social media.

Osaka has appeared in Nike commercials, including accusations of discrimination in Japan. The copy of the advertisement in which Osaka appeared was’This victory is for me, this fight is for everyone’.

There are still walls to overcome in order for Osaka to become a true’tennis empress’. Osaka has so far only won major championships in hard court competitions (Australian Open, US Open). The hard court can make the most of its strongest advantage, the KangServ advantage. On the other hand, it was sluggish at the French Open at Clay Court and Wimbledon at the Lawn Court. The best grade is in the round of 32 (three rounds). In places other than the hard court, the weaknesses are obvious.

“Osaka is the best hard court player since Serena Williams,” said Matt Willander, “tennis legend,” who commented on the Australian Open at Eurosports, but pointed out that “we have to do more on clay courts and grass courts”.

In an interview after winning the Australian Open, Osaka was asked about this. “First of all, I want to win the clay court competition” and “because the clay court competition will be held first,” Osaka expressed confidence. The next major competition is the French Open at Clay Court at the end of May.

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