1997–present
Latest News: Naomi Osaka Reaches U.S. Open Quarterfinals
Seeking her first Grand Slam win in more than four years, Naomi Osaka drew a major step closer with her U.S. Open victory over No. 3 seed Coco Gauff on September 1.
Osaka took advantage of Gauff’s 33 unforced errors to win 6-3, 6-2 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City. She now faces Karolína Muchová of the Czech Republic in the women’s singles quarterfinals on Wednesday.
“This is kind of unchartered territory at this point of my career,” Osaka said. “I’m just enjoying it. I’m having fun. I’m being able to play against the best players in the world.”
The 27-year-old has history on her side. She’s made four previous quarterfinal appearances at majors and won all of them.
Ranked No. 24 in the world, the tennis star is delivering one of her best tournament performances in years. Before dispatching Gauff, Osaka had already beaten No. 18 Daria Kasatkina of Australia, as well as U.S. player Hailey Baptiste and Greet Minnen of Belgium.
Her hot streak comes after middling results since she returned to regular play in January 2024. Prior to that, Osaka took extended breaks from competition to prioritize her mental health and a 17-month leave for the birth of her daughter, Shai.
Who Is Naomi Osaka?
Tennis star Naomi Osaka is a four-time major champion and the first Asian player to hold the No. 1 world ranking, which she achieved in 2019. Osaka started playing tennis at the age of 3, not long after her Japanese mother and Haitian father moved the family to the United States. Today, Osaka represents Japan on the court and boasts an 120-mph serve. She became the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam title at the 2018 U.S. Open. Osaka is also known for her advocacy regarding mental health and social justice issues.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Naomi Osaka
BORN: October 16, 1997
BIRTHPLACE: Osaka, Japan
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Libra
HEIGHT: 5 ft. 11 in.
Early Life and Family
Naomi Osaka was born in Osaka, Japan, on October 16, 1997. Her parents, Leonard Maxime Francois and Tamaki Osaka, met in Sapporo, Japan, in the 1990s. When Tamaki’s family learned she was involved with a Haitian man, they deemed the relationship a disgrace. Even so, Tamaki and Francois went on to marry. The couple moved to the city of Osaka, where Naomi was born, 18 months after her older sister, Mari.
Japan is a racially homogenous country where mixed-race children are sometimes called hafu, meaning “half,” and can face discrimination. Naomi and her sister were given their mother’s last name to try to make life in Japan easier. “When I go to Japan people are confused,” Naomi once told USA Today. “From my name, they don’t expect to see a Black girl.” Yet, people in Japan have largely come to embrace Naomi. She’s been followed by paparazzi and has needed to don a wig in order to escape fan attention.
Her path to world-wide tennis fame began at an early age. After seeing Venus and Serena Williams at the French Open in 1999 and learning how their father had trained them, Francois was inspired to follow a similar path with his daughters. Naomi was 3 when her family left Japan for the United States. They settled in Long Island, New York, with her father’s parents, and Naomi and Mari began playing tennis.
In 2006, the family moved to Florida, where the girls practiced tennis during the day with their father. In New York, they had attended public school, but after they relocated, they were homeschooled at night. Tamaki worked to support the family during this time.
It wasn’t just Naomi’s father who looked up to the Williams family. Naomi is a longtime admirer of Serena Williams and wrote a report about the tennis legend when she was in the third grade. In a 2018 interview, Naomi admitted, “Sometimes when I’m in a really important position, when I’m serving, I’m like, ‘What would Serena do?’”
Ethnicity and Citizenship
Despite her American upbringing, Osaka never lost connection to her Japanese nor Haitian heritage. “I don’t really know what feeling Japanese or Haitian or American is supposed to feel like. I just feel like me,” she once said.
She grew up with both Japanese and U.S. citizenship, but Japanese law requires dual citizens to choose between their Japanese citizenship and other passports when they turn 22. In October 2019, Osaka opted to keep her Japanese citizenship. Even before that point, she played under the Japanese flag, a decision her father pushed for. He believed the Japan Tennis Association would offer more support than its American equivalent.
Osaka and her mother speak Japanese together, but Osaka isn’t fluent in the language. She’s posted on social media, “I can understand most Japanese, and I speak when I want to.”
In Japan, her manner of speaking is known as Naomi-bushi (Naomi-esque), which received a 2018 buzzword of the year nomination. Osaka’s habit of bowing during her matches is also appreciated as something quintessentially Japanese.
Tennis Career
The Japanese side of Osaka’s family was initially skeptical that pursuing tennis would pay off, but they changed their minds as she became a success.
One of Osaka’s first major accomplishments on the court was defeating her sister, Mari. Although her sister showed early promise as a player, injuries slowed her career. “It took 12 years to beat her,” Osaka told CNN. “It was probably one of the biggest moments of my career. She beat me probably more than 1,000 times over my childhood.”
Osaka—who stands at 5 feet, 11 inches—skipped junior tournaments and started out on pro satellite tours, following the path set by the Williams sisters. She turned pro in 2013 and, in 2016, was selected as Newcomer of the Year by the Women’s Tennis Association.
Her unique sense of humor is often on display in news conferences. She’s joked that everyone born in the city of Osaka has her last name and, in response to a query about her career goals, quoted the Pokémon theme song: “To be the very best, like no one ever was.”
Before a match, Osaka likes to listen to music, usually rap or hip-hop. She returns to the same song until she loses.
Grand Slams and World No. 1 Ranking
Osaka’s first WTA tour win came at Indian Wells, California, in March 2018. Next, the 20-year-old beat Serena Williams, who had recently returned to competition after giving birth, at that year’s Miami Open. The women faced off again in the women’s singles final at the U.S. Open that September. Osaka triumphed and became the first Japanese player to nab a Grand Slam title.
Yet, the match brewed controversy. At one point, Williams got angry after receiving a penalty. In response, the umpire two more penalties that took away a point and a game from Williams. The crowd, upset by these actions, booed at the trophy ceremony. Osaka, unsure if the jeers were directed at her, hid her teary face with her visor during the presentation. Williams then put an arm around Osaka and told the crowd to stop booing so as not to detract from the win. In her post-match interview, Osaka said, “I know that everyone was cheering for [Williams]. I’m sorry it had to end like this. I just want to say thank you for watching the match.”
Williams later sent Osaka a letter of apology that noted in part, “I am, was, and will always be happy for you and supportive of you. I would never, ever want the light to shine away from another female, specifically another Black female athlete.” Osaka responded by telling Williams, “No one has stood up for themselves the way you have, and you need to continue trailblazing.”
Osaka again came out on top at the Australian Open in January 2019, becoming the first player since 2001 to win back-to-back major titles after her first Grand Slam win. That victory also gave Osaka the world No. 1 ranking, a first for any Asian player, male or female.
Surprisingly, after the 2019 Australian Open, Osaka split from her coach Sascha Bajin, who had been with her for her two Grand Slam titles. No public reason for the change was offered. Her next coach was Jermaine Jenkins, though by 2020 she had switched to work with Wim Fissette.
For much of 2019, Osaka encountered difficulties on the court. Wimbledon was a particular disappointment as she didn’t make it past the first day of competition. The tennis player, who was troubled by a knee injury throughout the year, shared in July that hadn’t “had fun playing tennis since Australia” but was focused on “relearning that fun feeling” and felt excited about her future.
At that year’s U.S. Open, Osaka showed her sportsmanship by inviting defeated opponent Coco Gauff to join her in a post-game interview following their third-round match because she didn’t want the younger player to go off and cry alone. Osaka didn’t make it past the fourth round of that tournament but won at tournaments in Osaka and Beijing later in 2019.
After losing to Gauff in the third round of the Australian Open in 2020, Osaka was preparing to represent Japan at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo before the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the event. “Of course I am disappointed that it won’t happen this year, but we’ll all be ready to go stronger than ever in 2021,” she said of the delay.
Osaka won the 2020 U.S. Open by defeating Victoria Azarenka 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the final match. Like earlier in her career, she followed up with another Slam win at the 2021 Australian Open after defeating Serena Williams in the semifinal and Jennifer Brady in the final.
Breaks from Tennis and Comeback
Osaka withdrew from the 2021 French Open after she was fined and faced other potential sanctions for skipping mandatory news conferences. She cited effects on her mental health as the primary factor.
After she competed at that summer’s Tokyo Olympics and served as the final torchbearer for the opening ceremony, Osaka experienced more struggles. Following a third-round elimination at the 2021 U.S. Open, she announced she was considering another break from tennis because of her mental health. “I feel like for me, recently, when I win, I don’t feel happy, I feel more like a relief. And then when I lose, I feel very sad. I don’t think that’s normal,” Osaka said.
Osaka returned in early 2022 but battled injuries throughout the year and was brought to tears during a match at the Indian Wells Open because of heckling. Her world ranking dropped to No. 85. Then in January 2023, Osaka announced she would be taking maternity leave for the birth of her first child. Her total absence from the court lasted 17 months before she returned at the 2024 Brisbane Invitational.
As of September 2025, Osaka has seven career singles titles and rebounded to No. 24 in the WTA ranking. Still seeking her first tournament win of the season, she put together one of her most promising performances at the U.S. Open—defeating Top-20 players Daria Kasatkina of Australia and Coco Gauff, ranked No. 3, to reach the quarterfinals.
Activism
Osaka has become a leading activist in professional tennis. She withdrew from the 2020 Cincinnati Open to raise awareness for the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who survived seven gunshots fired by a white police officer in Wisconsin. For the 2020 U.S. Open, Osaka wore masks that displayed the names of several Black Americans who were the victims of police brutality, including Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, and George Floyd.
Additionally, Osaka has continued to advocate for athletes’ mental health. She partnered with platform Modern Health to offer a series of personal meditation tools and has been candid about her own experiences in therapy. “I realize how helpful it is. I’m glad that I have people around me that told me to go in that direction,” she said.
Daughter and Personal Life
In January 2023, Osaka withdrew from the Australian Open and revealed days later on social media that she was pregnant with her first child with rapper Cordae. She welcomed a daughter named Shai later that July. Osaka told ESPN the name means “God’s gift.”
“I think that’s what I wanted her to feel, like she was a gift to me and, you know, her dad. And, of course, she’s spreading a lot of joy already,” she said. While Osaka has prioritized her daughter’s privacy, Shai recently attended her first tennis match at the 2025 U.S. Open.
Osaka revealed in the 2025 Tubi documentaty series Naomi Osaka: The Second Set that she experienced severe postpartum depression after Shai’s birth. “In no world would I ever want my daughter to think that her birth is nothing less than the biggest gift I have ever received. But during those early months, I felt like a shell of myself at all moments of the day,” she said. “I no longer knew who I was anymore. It felt like everyone else had moved on and they were living in color. Meanwhile, my world was stuck in gray.”
The tennis star and Cordae began dating in 2019, but Osaka announced in January 2025 the couple are no longer together. She said there was “no bad blood” following the split.
Quotes
- Believe it or not, I am naturally introverted and do not court the spotlight. I always try to push myself to speak up for what I believe to be right, but that often comes at a cost of great anxiety.
- You just gotta keep going and fighting for everything, and one day you’ll get to where you want.
- I feel like if you don’t believe in yourself, then other people won’t believe in yourself.
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Sara Kettler is a Connecticut-based freelance writer who has written for Biography.com, History, and the A&E True Crime blog. She’s a member of the Writers Guild of America and also pens mystery novels. Outside of writing, she likes dogs, Broadway shows, and studying foreign languages.
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