Page 26 - Forbes - Asia (April 2019)

Naomi Osaka, 21 Entertainment & Sports

TENNIS PLAYER JAPAN
Karishma Ali, 21 Pakistan Hou Yifan, 25 China Kang-in Lee, 17 South Korea
In a sport known for divas and superegos, President, Chitral Women’s Professional chess player Soccer player, Valencia
Naomi Osaka—now ranked as the world’s Sports Club Rikako Ikee, 18 Japan Sang-hyeok Lee “Faker”, 22
No. 1 female tennis player—stands out for Bi Gan, 29 China Swimmer South Korea
being neither. Osaka’s humility off-court Film Director Naoya Inoue, 25 Japan Professional gamer,
SK Telecom T1
belies her power and aggressive pace dur- Kim Jisoo, 24; Kim Jennie, 23; Boxer Liu Haoran 21 China
Roseanne “Rosé” Park, 22;
ing matches. She even retweeted a meme Lalisa “Lisa” Manoban, 22 Hyeon-woo Jo, 27 South Korea Actor
contrasting her character as a cute kitten South Korea Goalkeeper, Daegu FC/ Neel Madhav, 25 India
South Korean national team
K-pop band, BLACKPINK
(off-court) and a tiger (on-court). Her abil- Kimbra Lee Johnson Mentalist
ity to maintain that dual nature has earned Chae-rin “CL” Lee, 27 “Kimbra”, 28 New Zealand Ishita Malaviya, 29 India
South Korea
accolades from fellow players and fans, not Singer Singer Professional surfer
to mention lucrative endorsements. Peggy Gou, 28 South Korea Samantha Kerr, 25 Australia George Miller “Joji”, 26 Japan
Osaka’s rise has been nothing short of Musician Forward, Chicago Red Stars/ Musician
meteoric. It was only 2016 when she was Australian national team Niranjan Mukundan, 24 India
named the Women’s Tennis Association’s Lao Khang, 26 Laos Para swimming athlete
Rugby player and coach
“Newcomer of the Year.” That same year, Tae-ri Kim, 28 South Korea Shayna Ng, 29 Singapore
Professional bowler,
Osaka’s idol, tennis legend Serena Williams, Actress Singapore national team
described Osaka’s ability as “very danger- Naomi Osaka, 21 Japan
ous.” Osaka proved Williams right by de- Tennis player
feating Williams last year at the U.S. Open. Nana Ou-Yang, 18 Taiwan
That upset made Osaka, who was born in Cellist, musican and actress
Japan to Haitian and Japanese parents and Dinara Saduakassova, 22
grew up in the U.S., the first Japanese Kazakhstan
Professional chess player
player to win a Grand Slam singles tour- Koharu Sugawara, 26 Japan
nament. Following Osaka’s victories at Dancer
the U.S. Open and Australian Open, the Tash Sultana, 23 Australia
WTA in January singled her out as its Musician
top-ranked player. Aries Susanti, 23 Indonesia
With nearly $11 million in career Professional climber, Federasi
earnings so far, Osaka has been Panjat Tebing Indonesia
on a winning streak off the court, Benjamin Kheng, 28; Narelle
Kheng, 25; Sandra Riley
too, snatching a host of Japanese Tang, 28; Jonathan Chua, 29
and international sponsors such Singapore
as Nike, All Nippon Airways, Band members, The Sam Willows
Nissan, Shiseido and Yonex. She Phoebe Tonkin, 29 Australia
Actress
has nearly 1.3 million followers
on Twitter and Instagram, who Owen Wright, 28 Australia
Professional surfer
thrive on her self-effacing, hu-
morous posts. —James Simms JUDGES
Dick Lee, Singapore
Singer, Composer and
Creative Director
Kei Nishikori, Japan
Tennis player

• A S I
A

•

• 2 0 1 9 •

FRANCO ORIGLIA/GETTY IMAGES

22 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019