Naomi Osaka says that her milestone win over Serena Williams doesn’t change the level of admiration and fear she has when facing the American on the court.
The former world No.1 grew up idolising 23-time Grand Slam winner Williams who turned 39 earlier this year. It was against Williams at the 2018 US Open where Osaka made headlines around the world by winning her first Grand Slam title. Becoming the first Japanese born player – male or female – to win a major title.
Since that memorable final, which was overshadowed by Williams’ heated confrontation with umpire Carlos Ramos, the two also locked horns at the Roger Cup last year. A match Osaka lost in straight sets.
“There’s a lot of things she’s so much better at,” Osaka told Vogue magazine. “She’s more aggressive. She knows when to go for her shots. Sometimes she hits really big service returns, and I can’t do that at all. Honestly, I’m kind of scared of her. Not scared scared but—I’m intimidated, and I get very shy when she’s like 10 feet away from me.”
In recent years Osaka has been compared to a younger version of her idol. Earlier this year she overtook Williams to become the highest paid female athlete in the world. According to Forbes.com, she earned $37.4 million within a 12-month period from endorsements and prize money.
“When I’m stepping on the court, I have to treat her as a tennis player, not as Serena Williams,” she explains. “I just blocked out all my emotions and thought about playing against the ball, like every ball that came across the net was my opponent.”
The 23-year-old has only played in four WTA tournaments this season but she attracted worldwide praise during the US Open, which she won for a second time. During the event she raised awareness for the Black Matter Lives movement by walking onto each match by wearing a mask with different names on them. Each name represents somebody who has been a victim of police brutality in America. Her activities resulted in Osaka being named as one of the five winners of Sports Illustrated’s sportsperson of 2020.
“I think I confuse people because some people label me, and they expect me to stick to that label. Since I represent Japan, some people just expect me to be quiet and maybe only speak about Japanese topic,” Osaka explains.
“I consider myself Japanese-Haitian-American. I always grew up with a little bit more Japanese heritage and culture, but I’m Black, and I live in America, and I personally didn’t think it was too far-fetched when I started talking about things that were happening here. There are things going on here that really scare me.”
Osaka is currently third in the WTA rankings. This season she has achieved a win-loss record of 16-3 and earned $3,352,755 in prize money.
