It is undeniable that women have become the dominant figure in tennis. There are so many of them who have made giant strides in the game and found their way to superstardom. The Women’s Tennis Association has brought together women of all races from all over the world and produced stars like Naomi Osaka. Naomi is a Japanese-American professional tennis player who currently ranks 19th in the women’s singles and 324th in the women’s doubles worldwide.
Osaka began her career in 2013 and has played in several tournaments including the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open. Although she has not yet won a world championship title, Naomi Osaka has competed against big names in the sport such as Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Simona Halep, and Angelique Kerber, to name but a few. Learn more about the fast-rising tennis star below.
Naomi Osaka Bio: Age and Ethnicity
The women’s tennis star was born on October 16, 1997, as Naomi Osaka in Osaka, Japan. She was born as the daughter of a Haitian father and a Japanese mother. She grew up with her older sister Mari Osaka. When Osaka was three years old, her family moved to the United States where she completed her basic training. Naomi attended the Elmont Alden Terrace Primary School, and after graduation, she enrolled at Broward Virtual Middle High School. After completing her basic training, Naomi attended the Florida Tennis SBT Academy and the ProWorld Tennis Academy. She is of Japanese and Haitian descent and has dual citizenship in Japan and America.
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Professional Career
At the beginning of her professional tennis career, her father decided that she should register with the Japanese Tennis Federation. Naomi Osaka began her career path in 2012 by participating in the ITF circuit competitions. In 2013 she turned pro and in 2014 she had her first professional appearance at the Bank of the West Classic Tour of the WTA. Her first professional win was against US Open champion Samantha Stosur.
In 2015 Naomi won the Rising Stars Invitational exhibition tournament, beating Carolina Garcia to win the tournament. She made her Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open but lost to Victoria Azarenka in the third round. That same year, she also reached the third round at the French Open. After her triumph over Yelena Ostapenko and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, she was defeated by Simona Halep.
The amazing tennis prodigy made her breakthrough at the 2016 Toray Pan Pacific Open, where she defeated Elina Svitolina, Misaki Doi, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, and Dominika Cibulkova and reached the final of the competition. Unfortunately, she lost against Caroline Wozniacki. After the competition, Naomi managed to get into the top 50 of the WTA ranking. She also won the Newcomer of the Year award at the WTA Awards 2016.
In 2017 she participated in the Australian Open, won her game in the first round, and lost to Johanna Konta in the second round of the tournament. She also lost to Christina McHale in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championship. At the Hong Kong Open in October 2017, she triumphed against Venus Williams but was beaten in the quarter-finals by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. In the same year, Naomi also participated in the Eastbourne International Tournament, the Nottingham Open, the Miami Open, and the Volvo Car Open, among others.
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In addition, Naomi won her first Premier Mandatory title in 2018 after her impressive performance at the BNP Paribas Open. She defeated world number one Simona Halep to advance to the final, beating Russian Daria Kasatkina with her first Mandatory title. She also reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final after beating Aryna Sabalenka. Naomi Osaka will meet Lesia Tsurenko in the next round of the tournament. Meanwhile, she reached the third round of the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and French Open in the same round.
Family: Father, Mother (Parents), and Sister
As we have already mentioned, Naomi Osaka was born as the daughter of the Haitian father Leonard Francois, and the Japanese mother Tamaki Osaka. Her father was born and raised in Haiti; he moved to the United States where he attended New York University. After graduating, he went to Japan, where he met and married Naomi’s mother. Three years after Naomi’s birth, her family moved to the United States, where she now lives in Florida.
Naomi has an older sister named Mari Osaka. Apparently, the two sisters are both professional tennis players. Mari had her first professional appearance at the WTA 2014 Bank of the West Classic Tour. Although she lost in doubles, she teamed up with Marina Shamayko. She is a three-time runner-up in three singles finals, first on the 2012 Amelia Island Tour and then on the Goyang, South Korea Tour, and the Denain, France Tour 2017. Interestingly, the two sisters have played tennis together in doubles. While Naomi is currently ranked 19th in the women’s WTA singles, Mari will be ranked 289 from 2018.
