126 Facts About Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka has been ranked as the world No 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association for 25 weeks, the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles.

Naomi Osaka has won seven WTA Tour-level singles titles, including four majors: two each at the Australian Open and the US Open.

Naomi Osaka is the first Japanese player to win a major singles title.

Naomi Osaka came to prominence at age 16 when she defeated former US Open champion Samantha Stosur in her WTA Tour debut at the 2014 Stanford Classic.

Naomi Osaka broke into the upper echelon of women's tennis in 2018, winning her first Tour title at the Indian Wells Open, then defeating Serena Williams in the final of the US Open.

Naomi Osaka took maternity leave in 2023, returning to competition in 2024.

Naomi Osaka is recognized as an activist, having showed support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Naomi Osaka was named one of the 2020 Sports Illustrated Sportspersons of the Year for her activism, particularly during her US Open championship run, and was included on Times annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019,2020, and 2021.

Naomi Osaka was the 2021 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year.

Naomi Osaka was born on October 16,1997, in Chuo-ku, Osaka, Japan to Leonard Francois, who is from Jacmel, Haiti, and Tamaki Osaka, who is from Nemuro, Hokkaido, Japan.

Naomi Osaka has an older sister, Mari, who is a former professional tennis player.

Naomi Osaka's parents met when her father was visiting Hokkaido while he was a college student in New York.

When Naomi Osaka was four years old, her family moved from Japan to the US to live with her father's parents in Elmont, New York on Long Island.

Naomi Osaka's father was inspired to teach his daughters how to play tennis by watching the Williams sisters compete at the 1999 French Open.

Naomi Osaka practiced on the Pembroke Pines public courts during the day and was homeschooled at night.

When Naomi Osaka was 15years old, she began working with Patrick Tauma at the ISP Academy.

Naomi Osaka was born in Osaka and was brought up in a household of Japanese and Haitian culture.

Naomi Osaka never competed on the ITF Junior Circuit, the premier international junior tour, and only played in a small number of junior tournaments at any age level.

Naomi Osaka instead skipped to the ITF Women's Circuit and played her first qualifying match in October 2011 on her 14th birthday.

Naomi Osaka has never won a title at the ITF level, only managing to finish runner-up on four occasions.

In September 2013, Naomi Osaka turned professional shortly before turning 16 years old.

Naomi Osaka entered her first two qualifying draws on the WTA Tour that same month at the Challenge Bell in Quebec and the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.

Naomi Osaka was still just 16 years old and ranked No 406 at the time.

Naomi Osaka won a match as a wildcard at the Japan Women's Open, her only other WTA Tour main draw of the year.

Naomi Osaka reached her two highest level finals, the first at the $75k Kangaroo Cup in Japan and the second at the $50k Surbiton Trophy in England.

Naomi Osaka won her first match at the US Open, but was unable to qualify for either main draw.

Back in the United States, Naomi Osaka received a wildcard into the Miami Open, her first Premier Mandatory main draw.

Naomi Osaka only managed to do so at a single event, the Charleston Open, where she lost her only match in the main draw.

Nonetheless, Naomi Osaka was ranked high enough to be directly accepted into the main draw of the French Open.

Naomi Osaka won the first set against No 6 Simona Halep, but ultimately lost the match.

Naomi Osaka then did not play the grass-court season after suffering an injury shortly after the French Open.

Naomi Osaka did not win more than two main draw matches at any event all year.

Naomi Osaka had a strong debut at Wimbledon, upsetting No 23 Barbora Strycova, before losing to No 11 Venus Williams.

At the Indian Wells Open, Naomi Osaka had the next big breakthrough of her career.

Naomi Osaka then closed out the tournament with a win in the final over fellow up-and-coming player Daria Kasatkina, making her the youngest champion at the event in ten years.

Naomi Osaka played the following week as well at the Miami Open and extended her win streak by one additional match in her first meeting against her childhood idol, Serena Williams, who was competing in just her second tournament back from maternity leave.

Naomi Osaka reached the third round at both the French Open and Wimbledon, matching her best performance at each tournament.

Naomi Osaka did not have another breakthrough result until the US Open, where she won her second title of the year.

Naomi Osaka was drawn against Madison Keys in the semifinals, and was able to avenge her tough loss from the 2016 US Open to advance to the final.

Now ranked in the top ten, Naomi Osaka extended her win streak to ten matches by reaching the final at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo for the second time in her career.

Naomi Osaka then reached the semifinals at the Premier Mandatory China Open.

Naomi Osaka closed out the year by participating at the WTA Finals, where she was grouped with Sloane Stephens, Angelique Kerber, and Kiki Bertens.

Naomi Osaka lost all three of her round-robin matches, notably retiring against Bertens due to a hamstring injury to end her season.

Naomi Osaka entered the Australian Open as the fourth seed and one of eleven players in contention for the world No 1 ranking.

Naomi Osaka was the first woman to win consecutive major singles titles since Serena Williams in 2015, and was the first player to follow up her first Grand Slam singles title with another at the next such event since Jennifer Capriati in 2001.

Naomi Osaka became the first Asian player to be ranked No 1 in the world in singles.

Naomi Osaka withdrew from the latter due to a right hand injury.

Naomi Osaka matched her best result at the French Open, losing to Katerina Siniakova in the third round.

Naomi Osaka only played four tournaments in 2020, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Naomi Osaka initially withdrawn from the Cincinnati Open before the semifinal to raise awareness for the police shooting of Jacob Blake, only staying in the tournament after they chose to support her cause by postponing the event for a day.

At the US Open, Naomi Osaka walked onto the court for her seven matches wearing a different black mask, each of which with the name of an African American who had been killed in recent years often without significant repercussions.

Naomi Osaka recorded straight-sets wins over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Caroline Garcia, and Ons Jabeur, before defeating Garbine Muguruza in three sets in the fourth round despite facing match points during the third set.

Naomi Osaka went on to defeat Hsieh Su-wei in the quarterfinals, Serena Williams in the semifinals, and 22nd seed Jennifer Brady in the final to claim her second Australian Open title.

Naomi Osaka became one of only three players in the Open Era to win her first four Grand Slam finals, alongside Roger Federer and Monica Seles.

Naomi Osaka returned to the Miami Open as the second seed, making the quarterfinals for the first time.

Naomi Osaka lost the quarterfinal in a shock defeat to Maria Sakkari, winning just four games.

Naomi Osaka beat Coco Gauff in the second round but was upset by Jil Teichmann in the third round, both in three sets.

At the US Open, Naomi Osaka failed to defend her title, losing her composure and the match to the eventual tournament runner-up, Canadian Leylah Fernandez in the third round, despite serving for the match in the second set.

Naomi Osaka returned to competition at the Melbourne Summer Set 1 tournament seeded No 1 and made the semifinals, before withdrawing due to an abdominal injury.

Naomi Osaka described being happy despite the loss and discussed steps she is taking to improve her mental health and have "more fun on the court".

Naomi Osaka dropped 71 spots in the WTA rankings to No 85 following the tournament, with the tournament absences in 2021 contributing to the drop.

Naomi Osaka was upset by a heckler in the crowd during the second round and was in tears during the match.

Naomi Osaka reached her first final since the 2021 Australian Open after defeating 22nd seed Belinda Bencic in the semifinals.

At the Canadian Open, Naomi Osaka retired from her first match against Kaia Kanepi due to back injury.

Against home favorite Danielle Collins, Naomi Osaka started positive into the US Open but lost the first set in a tiebreak, and her first-round match in two sets.

Naomi Osaka's troubles continued at the Pan Pacific Open where, as the defending champion, she withdrew in the second round citing abdominal pain.

Naomi Osaka had played only one game in her first round match against Daria Gavrilova who retired due to a knee injury.

Days before the Australian Open, Naomi Osaka announced her withdrawal from the championships, as she was expecting her first child with rapper Cordae.

Naomi Osaka later announced her return at the 2024 Brisbane International.

Naomi Osaka made her return to professional tennis as a wildcard at Brisbane.

Naomi Osaka returned to Indian Wells, securing straight set victories over Sara Errani and Liudmila Samsonova.

Naomi Osaka fell to the 24th seed Elise Mertens in the 3rd round.

In Miami, Naomi Osaka took out Italian player Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in straight sets before falling to Frenchwoman Carolina Garcia in their third face-off of the year.

Naomi Osaka started her clay court season in Rouen, losing to clay court specialist and former French Open semifinalist, Martina Trevisan in straight sets.

Naomi Osaka returned to Madrid with a comprehensive victory over Greet Minnen.

Naomi Osaka reached the fourth round in Rome, defeating notably seeded Daria Kasatkina and Marta Kostyuk in straight sets, before falling to Zheng Qinwen.

At the 2024 French Open, Naomi Osaka lost an unexpectedly close second-round match to the three-time winner and world No 1 Iga Swiatek where she had set point the first set and one match point.

Naomi Osaka then returned to grass courts for the first time since 2019 in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.

Naomi Osaka made a winning return and beat fourth-seeded Elise Mertens in the first round, eventually making it to the quarterfinals where she was defeated by Bianca Andreescu.

At the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, Naomi Osaka got through to the second round before losing to Emma Navarro.

At the Canadian Open, Naomi Osaka defeated Ons Jabeur in the first round, but was eliminated in the second round after losing to Elise Mertens.

Naomi Osaka reached the second round at the US Open with a win over 10th seed Jelena Ostapenko, before losing to Karolina Muchova.

Naomi Osaka played her next tournament at the China Open, making it through to the fourth round where she retired due to a back injury at the start of the third set against Coco Gauff.

Naomi Osaka started her 2025 season at the Auckland Open, where she reached the final but retired due to an abdominal injury after winning the first set against 5th-seeded Clara Tauson.

At this point, Naomi Osaka returned to the team and won her opening match against Heather Watson.

Naomi Osaka made her Hopman Cup debut in 2018 with Yuichi Sugita.

Naomi Osaka had a big highlight in the mixed doubles match against Switzerland when she served an ace past Roger Federer.

Naomi Osaka lost in the 3rd round of the games to eventual finalist and silver medalist Marketa Vondrousova after two straight set victories.

Naomi Osaka has excellent raw power, especially on her forehand and her serve.

Naomi Osaka could hit 160 kilometers per hour forehands at the age of sixteen, and her serve has been clocked at up to 200 kilometers per hour, making her one of the ten fastest servers on record in WTA history.

One of the first notable instances in which that strategy proved successful was when Naomi Osaka made her first career WTA final at the 2016 Pan Pacific Open.

Naomi Osaka credited improving her mental approach and cutting down on unforced errors for her breakthrough season in 2018.

Naomi Osaka was coached by her father Leonard Francois from the age of three.

Naomi Osaka was her coach in 2013 when she reached her first ITF final.

Under Solomon, Naomi Osaka defeated Sam Stosur for her first WTA match win.

Naomi Osaka rose to No 1 in the world after having never previously been ranked above No 40.

Naomi Osaka won her first two tournaments with him back as her coach.

Naomi Osaka subsequently hired Wim Fissette at the start of the 2020 season but announced on September 13,2024, the end of their coaching relationship.

In September 2024 Naomi Osaka added Patrick Mouratoglou as her coach.

Naomi Osaka is one of the most marketable athletes in the world.

Naomi Osaka plays with the Yonex Ezone 98 racket, equipped with Polytour Pro 125 and Rexis 130 strings.

Naomi Osaka has been represented by the IMG management company since 2016.

In 2022, Naomi Osaka left IMG, in order to set up her own sports management agency, Evolve, alongside her agent, Stuart Duguid.

Naomi Osaka is a brand ambassador for Japanese automobile manufacturer Nissan and Japanese electronics manufacturer Citizen Watch.

Naomi Osaka endorses several other Japanese companies, including noodle maker Nissin Foods, cosmetics producer Shiseido, the broadcasting station Wowow, and airline All Nippon Airways.

In January 2021, Naomi Osaka was named the brand ambassador for Tag Heuer watches, as well as for Louis Vuitton; she appeared in their Spring-Summer 2021 campaign.

Naomi Osaka is endorsed by Beats Electronics, Bodyarmor SuperDrink, Mastercard, Panasonic, FTX, PlayStation, Levi's, Airbnb, Sweetgreen, Workday, and GoDaddy.

Naomi Osaka is a promoter of the "Panasonic Green Impact" initiative alongside Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and Olympic figure skater Nathan Chen.

Naomi Osaka highlighted Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Philando Castile, and Tamir Rice; and was praised directly by the parents of Martin and Arbery.

Naomi Osaka outlined her personal reasons for supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and protesting against police brutality in an op-ed in Esquire magazine.

Naomi Osaka was named a 2020 Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year for her activism alongside the year's other prominent activist sports champions LeBron James, Breanna Stewart, and Patrick Mahomes, as well as medical worker Laurent Duvernay-Tardif.

Naomi Osaka was honored as one of the Time 100 most influential people in the world in 2020 for her activism, having been named to the list in 2019 for representing professional tennis well as an excellent role model and a major champion.

Naomi Osaka's activism has drawn attention from the scholarly community studying celebrity and advocacy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and following the police killing of George Floyd.

Naomi Osaka has been featured as the main character in a manga series published by Kodansha in Nakayoshi, a leading Japanese shojo magazine.

In March 2021, Naomi Osaka spoke out against anti-Asian hate crimes.

Naomi Osaka began a relationship with American rapper Cordae in 2019.

In January 2023, not long after withdrawing from the Australian Open, Naomi Osaka revealed that she was pregnant with her first child with Cordae.

Naomi Osaka later said she hoped to return to tennis for the 2024 Australian Open in January 2024.

Naomi Osaka learned that the umbilical cord had been wrapped around her unborn child's neck.

On January 6,2025, Naomi Osaka announced that she and Cordae were no longer in a relationship, adding that there is "no bad blood" between the two and that Cordae is "an awesome person and father".

Naomi Osaka has lived with depression since the 2018 US Open.

Naomi Osaka returned to therapy and later said it "really helped" and that she is better prepared for incidents.

In 2021, Naomi Osaka became a co-owner of the North Carolina Courage in the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of women's soccer in the US Naomi Osaka is an investor in a professional pickleball team which will be based in Miami, Florida, beginning in 2023.

In May 2022, Naomi Osaka announced after being represented by IMG for six years, she is partnering with her agent, Stuart Duguid, to form her own sports agency, Evolve.

On June 20,2022, Naomi Osaka announced that she had signed Nick Kyrgios as her first client.

Naomi Osaka has many ventures, including the video interview series "Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios".