Naomi Osaka announces herself as the future of women’s tennis
HER moment in the spotlight was spoiled by other events but new US Open tennis champion Naomi Osaka is the future of the women’s game, writes Jessica Halloran.
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LET’S talk about humility and grace. Let’s talk about Naomi Osaka.
Let’s give the woman left unfairly weeping, as the newly crowned US Open champion, some column inches she probably missed out on and deserves.
For 20 years, no one has been able to challenge Serena Williams consistently, but early signs suggest Osaka is the one to do this and could dominate the game in seasons to come.
Look at this way; in the last 14 years five-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova has only beaten Serena Williams twice.
But Osaka? She’s taken down the living legend twice this year. And she is only 20-years-old.
Sure, Williams has made a slow yet remarkable comeback from nearly dying soon after givng birth last year. Sure there have been some ordinary performances from Williams but she’s still managed to make two grand slam finals.
But note this: Osaka hasn’t lost a set to the 23-time grand slam champion.
Earlier this year Osaka showed her might when she won her first WTA title at Indian Wells, a tournament considered to be the unofficial fifth major. There Osaka thumped Sharapova in straight sets. She then defeated world No.5 Karolina Pliskova, and only gave away five games. Osaka then steamrolled world No.1 Simona Halep, who won just three games against her. To win the title she defeated Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-2.
No wonder Osaka has been touted as a future world No.1.
Some are already calling Osaka a “young Serena” albeit a little more-low key than the, at times, explosive tennis superstar. What Osaka has shown on the court is that she not only has the game, but a cool mental strength.
On the Arthur Ashe Stadium court, what struck me most was Osaka’s poise when all hell broke loose around her. It was stunning and it all goes back to what she was taught as a child.
As a little girl, Osaka was told that when her opponent was angry, in a rage, “an emotional moment on the court”, she was to turn away. That she did last Sunday morning our time.
As her opponent lost her mind, Osaka calmed her own thoughts by looking the other way. Osaka said because she was looking the other way she had no idea of the situation with Williams that was unfolding.
While controversy may have marred the women’s final, there’s nothing dismissing that Osaka dominated the match physically and emotionally. She deserved the title irrespective of the game and point handed her way.
Osaka has said she had imagined this moment, winning the US Open, and wasn’t surprised she did it. Yet the Japanese star could never have dreamt up the fury she would have to detach herself from to win her first grand slam title.
When the match was over, Osaka’s tears at the end of the match showed exactly how awful the experience of having to hear a booing and furious crowd upon your maiden grand slam victory was.
The jeering crowd left the 20-year-old feeling she’d done something wrong. She pulled the visor over her eyes. She was in tears. It was one of the saddest sights in sport – a young, innocent winner robbed of her moment. It took Serena Williams to whisper in her ear that they weren’t booing at her, to convince Osaka the howls of disgust weren’t directed her way.
Thankfully for Osaka, it’s only been up since that miserable moment.
The sponsors have come knocking and she’s signed big deals including with Nissan and is reportedly about to land the biggest deal adidas has ever given a female athlete - possibly a US$10 million contract.
Since her win, Osaka has done the media rounds from Teen Vogue, USA Today to Ellen DeGenres. As she shyly sat on the chair opposite DeGenres one of her opening remarks was: “I’m sorry but this is so weird, you are like a real person.”
When asked by DeGenres what she would do with the $US3.8 million prize-money she said she was not looking to buy herself a new car or spend money on herself.
“I would rather buy my parents something,” Osaka told DeGenres.
Of course she would.
Osaka may have been robbed of a joyous moment but the world has gained an insight into a steady, gentle character who will probably become the next star tennis has been waiting for.
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Originally published as Naomi Osaka announces herself as the future of women’s tennis