Page 21 - Tennis Magazine April 2019
P. 21
The story begins in June 1999, when family from Japan to New York, competition, but for me, every day was
Leonard François, a native of Haiti where he once lived. Like the a competition. Every day I’d say, ‘I’m
living in Japan, caught a glimpse of Williamses in Compton, CA, François, going to beat you tomorrow.’”
two young sisters, Venus and Serena Mari and Naomi began to train on the Twelve years later, Naomi got her
Williams, on their way to winning the public courts of Long Island. win. By then, the Osakas had headed
French Open doubles. François wasn’t The resemblances between the south to Pembroke Pines, FL, where
a tennis player, but he wondered if he families didn’t stop there. In both the girls were home-schooled as they
could replicate what Richard Williams cases, it was the older sister who was continued their tennis regimen. Naomi
assumed to be the largely skipped the juniors, just as the
future star; in both Williamses had, and turned pro at 14.
She’s a global citizen with cases, it was the Yet unlike Venus and Serena, who
younger sister who were pre-teen celebrities, Osaka’s
roots in multiple cultures willed herself to potential went largely unrecognized
and a personality that surpass her. As by tennis scouts in the U.S. François
a child, Serena decided that his daughters would
refl ects aspects of each. thought of Venus represent their native Japan instead.
as a “fierce swan,”
and herself as the Whatever flag she plays for, Osaka is
had done. François and his Japanese family’s “ugly duckling.” For Naomi, an example of a phenomenon familiar
wife, Tamaki Osaka, had two daughters the dynamic was less metaphoric, and to tennis: she’s a global citizen with
of their own: Mari, 3, and Naomi, 1. more straightforwardly zero-sum. roots in multiple cultures—in her case,
Many parents have tried to emulate “I don’t remember liking to hit the Haitian, Japanese and American—and
the success of the Williams family, but ball,” Osaka told The New York Times. a personality that’s hard to pigeonhole.
François was especially committed to “The main thing was I wanted to Some days she can play the part
the dream. The next year, he moved his beat my sister. For her, it wasn’t a of a young Serena: fist-pumping,
emoting and letting her majestic hair
fly. On other days, negative emotions
No one-year wonder, Osaka removed any doubts fans may have
had about her game as 2019 began. At the Australian Open, she can leave her slump-shouldered and
beat Top 10 mainstays Elina Svitolina, Karolina Pliskova and Petra perpetually frowning. Unlike Serena,
Kvitova in succession to win her second straight Grand Slam title.
Osaka doesn’t aim to intimidate; when
a match is over, she typically bows to
her opponent and speaks to the crowd
in a soft, high voice and a sometimes-
halting manner.
Away from the court, Osaka is fluent
in ironic millennial self-deprecation. In
her encounters with the media, that
can lead to moments of disarming
honesty and surprising comedy, often
within the same sentence.
Asked about her friends, Osaka said
at last year’s US Open, “Oh my God, I
literally only have, like, one friend that
I’m actually completely, like, myself
with...I feel bad for her...”
Asked what goes on in her head
GETTY IMAGES; AP zied inner dialogue of doubt that most
during a match, she described a fren-
recreational players would recognize.
“Right before [my opponent] hits
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