Black Tennis Pros

2020 US Open Champion Naomi Osaka  (Photo AP: Frank Franklin II)

2020 US Open Champion, 22-year-old Japanese-Haitian Naomi Osaka, refused to allow the loss of the first set to her 31 year old opponent Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, to cost her the 2020 title. Battling in the first set as if it were under a time constraint, Osaka reset her mentality.  She stated, "For me I just thought it would be very embarrassing to lose this in under an hour and I just have to try as hard as I can and stop having a really bad attitude."

The eventual win over Azarenka of 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, displayed every ounce of confidence that Osaka possessed and utilized as she gradually restructured her gameplay and turned the tables on Azarenka. "I feel like two years ago I maybe would have folded being down a set and a break. But I think all the matches that I played in between that time shaped me and made me or forced me to mature more. Especially all the matches that I've played here were very tough.

"So, yeah, I think definitely I'm more of a complete player now. I just have to try as hard as I can and stop having a really bad attitude," she said. "I feel like two years ago I maybe would have folded being down a set and a break. But I think all the matches that I played in between that time shaped me and made me or forced me to mature more. Especially all the matches that I've played here were very tough."

 Naomi Osaka, who was scheduled to play Elise Mertens in the Western & Southern Open semifinals on Thursday, August 27, has opted not to participate in the match, but to join the ranks of the athletes who are foregoing gameplay to honor yet another civil injustice to another unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake, who was SHOT IN THE BACK SEVEN TIMES by a Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer.  

World's highest paid female athlete Naomi Osaka on Wall Street Journal Magazine September 2020 cover.

This summer, when the eyes of the world were on Minneapolis in the days following George Floyd’s death, Naomi Osaka flew from Los Angeles to join the protests and commune with people at the street corner where he was killed. Without telling her agent-manager or coach, she decided to pick up and go with her boyfriend, the musician and rapper YBN Cordae.  Continue Reading...