It's not just tennis in life.
Since the beginning of February, 23-year-old Naomi Osaka has owned a football club.
The world n ° 3, opposed this Saturday to the American Jennifer Brady in the final of the Australian Open, offered the women's formation of North Carolina Courage, one of the best teams in the National Women's Soccer League, crowned champion of the United States in 2018 and 2019.
“The women who believed in me made me who I am today.
I don't know where I would be without them, explains the winner of three Grand Slams, cousin of Haitian international midfielder Zachary Herivaux.
Throughout my career, I have always received a lot of love from my fellow female athletes.
This is why I am proud to announce that I now own the club.
"
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Feminist… and activist.
The Japanese, who lives in the United States (Japanese law forced her to give up her dual nationality in the fall of 2019), has become in a few months one of the most famous headliners of the Black Lives Matter movement, which denounces police brutality towards minorities.
Last summer, Osaka even refused to play in the semi-final of the Cincinnati tournament to join the protest movement following the assassination of Jacob Blake in Kenosha.
The competition had finally been frozen for twenty-four hours.
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Racism, discrimination, inequalities… Naomi Osaka, a woman of fights
“Before being an athlete, I am a black woman, explains this daughter of a Japanese mother (she was born in… Osaka) and a Haitian father (where she emigrated at the age of three).
As a black woman, I consider that there are much more important things than watching myself play tennis… ”
"Do things that no one has ever done"
In early September, the companion of US rapper Cordae
(who became famous in 2018 for his remix of “My name is” by Eminem) had transformed the short deserts of the US Open into a tribune.
Seven matches, seven victories and seven black anti-Covid masks bearing the name of a victim of police violence.
“I feel like a vessel spreading awareness,” she explained.
I'm not going to alleviate their pain
(Editor's note: relatives of the deceased)
but I hope to help them with everything they need… ”After a difficult season, this extra societal soul has helped the young woman to find the wanna play.
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“When I was little, my whole life revolved around tennis,” she says.
Doing a variety of things outside gives me balance.
If I have to lose a game, I can think of a lot of other things.
My biggest priority outside of the tennis court is just to do cool stuff, to do stuff that no one has ever done.
"
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The highest-paid sportswoman in the world (34.3 million euros in income, mostly from her advertising contracts) has entered another dimension in a few months.
Voted athlete of the year 2020 by Sports Illustrated, featured on Vogue in the January 2021 edition, followed by Netflix for a docu-series, the champion has recently become the muse of Vuitton.
Without forgetting “Unrivaled-Naomi Tenkaichi”, a manga for young girls in which she is the heroine and which has as a common thread the fight against discrimination.
If the Olympics take place next summer in Tokyo, the young woman will be one of the headliners.
In a female circuit where charismatic figures do not jostle in the locker room, Osaka follows in the footsteps of her idol Serena Williams, whose portrait she drew in kindergarten.
When the American won her first Grand Slam (US Open 1999), her heiress was not even two years old.
The schoolgirl has grown up ...