Composed Pioneer in a Sea of Voices
Athlete Profile #1: Naomi Osaka
This story is Part 1 in a series of Player Profiles that will take a more statistical (but human) look into the lives of inspirational athletes across all sports.
Beating your Heroes
It has never been a surprise to the sports world that becoming internationally ranked in any capacity is an incredible feat that comes with many challenges of its own. These challenges pale in comparison to the hard work and dedication to get there. In a hot, packed stadium at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in New York City on a September afternoon in 2018, the widely unknown Japanese 20th-seed of the US Tennis Open went into the match of her life with 10,000 eyes following her and her opponent, who held the title of being the most dominant force in tennis at the time. Naomi Osaka vs Serena Williams set the perfect stage for Serena to reach her 7th total (and 4th consecutive) U.S. Open Championship, but also left ample opportunity to give Osaka the motivation needed to take down her childhood idol.
I was immediately drawn to how well Osaka, 20 years-old at the time, handled all of the drama that followed. With a powerful ace serve to end the match in straights 6–3, 6–4, Osaka was now the woman who beat Serena.
But the stories that followed the match were not of Osaka’s victory, rather everything but.
I mean, this video’s title is “Naomi Osaka upsets Serena Williams in U.S. Open”. Anybody could imagine that, without any prior knowledge of the actual game or either of these athletes, the story would focus on Osaka’s victory and her journey getting there. However, her victory was widely overshadowed by Williams’ disagreements (bordering shouting matches) with umpire Carlos Ramos, which sparked consequential discussions of the sexism Serena has faced her entire career.
Osaka was not one to back away from the challenges of being in the spotlight in the following months, but has faced mixed results since that fateful day over a year ago (see bottom for more info.)
The measure of respect I feel for Osaka really isn’t anything related to her results after the dawn of her career. It’s the fact that she has been so willing to be open about her mental struggles despite being an incredibly reserved soul.
An article written by Jonathan Liew for The Independent British journal highlights Osaka’s natural introverted demeanor as very notable across her moments on television. Osaka even takes to social media to address this certain pain she has felt.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all here for an incredibly powerful voice like Serena’s to be a defining factor for all athletes following in her state. However, Osaka strikes me as the “silent warrior” of tennis; and the maturity she emanates in her play and social life makes her a special kind of role-model to aspiring Asian athletes. That special identity has allowed for her to hold the destiny of her career within her own hands, catalyzing a big decision to renounce her US citizenship in order to play for Japan in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
🌩 Lightning Facts
All of these facts can be found in the notebook: here (sorry for the mess)
- Before the 2019 US Open, Osaka was ranked #1 in the WTA, the first Asian woman to hold this honor.
- From the victory in the 2018 US Open until the writing of this article, Osaka has gone 47W–18L in tournament play. She is currently ranked 3rd behind Ashleigh Barty (AUS) and Karolina Pliskova (CZE).
- Since 1968, Osaka is one of 3607 registered WTA players who have represented a country from Asia.
- Her favorite snack after a tournament is matcha ice cream. Seemingly irrelevant, but super awesome.
If you enjoyed this story, I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you thought. (:
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Author: Alex Nakagawa
Github for Analysis: https://github.com/tensight
