Naomi Osaka, born October 16th, 1997, is an American-Japanese professional tennis player who defeated Serena Williams in the final of the U.S. Open on Saturday (Sep. 8).
Her older sister, Mari Osaka, is also a professional tennis player, and together, the two sisters represent the three cultures they were raised with: American, Japanese and Haitian.
Here’s what you need to know about Naomi Osaka and her family:
Naomi Osaka’s father, Leonard François, is Haitian and her mother, Tamaki Osaka, is Japanese.
Naomi Osaka was born in Ch??-ku, Osaka, Japan, to a Japanese mother, Tamaki Osaka, and a Haitian father, Leonard “San” François.
In Nemuro—a city and port located in Hokkaido, Japan—where Naomi’s mother, Tamaki grew up, Tamaki wasn’t used to seeing people who didn’t like her. But that all changed after she started attending high school in Sapporo, Hokkaido’s capital, where she met “a handsome college student from New York,” the New York Times explains. That handsome college student, who attended NYU, was Leonard Maxime François, who was Haitian by birth and “one of only a handful of black men in all of Hokkaido,” according to the Times.
The culture divide between Osaka’s parents led to a number of difficulties in the beginning of their relationship. For instance, Tamaki told the NY New York Times that her father was furious when he found that she was dating a black man and chastised her for bringing disgrace on the family.
The couple then moved to Osaka, where both Tamaki, and Francois, whose Japanese was improving, found work and got married.
As a result of her interracial relationship, Tamaki did not have any contact with her family for over a decade.
Naomi’s sister, Mari Osaka, is also a professional tennis player.
Much like her U.S. Open opponent Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka’s sister, Mari, is also a professional tennis player.
In fact, Naomi and Mari Osaka have been compared to the Williams sisters on multiple occasions. W Magazine ran a feature in their July 2018 issue titled, “Mari and Naomi Osaka Could Be the Next Venus and Serena Williams.”
W Magazine‘s Brooke Marine wrote:
“Though Naomi has just been shockingly knocked out of the 16th round of Wimbledon, at just 20 years old, the tennis star has been a professional for nearly five years… Now, the Osaka sisters follow in the footsteps of Venus and Serena Williams, as two young sisters who are making waves in the field of professional tennis, and crushing their competition both on the court and on social media.”
Mari, who is Naomi’s older sister by just 18 months, is currently ranked #344 in the women’s singles rankings.
Naomi and Mari Osaka both took their mother’s last name, instead of their father’s.
Leonard Francois was Naomi’s first tennis trainer and is inspired by Richard Williams, father of Venus & Serena Williams.
Naomi Osaka represents the country of Japan on the court.
Meet the Family of Naomi Osaka, the Pro Tennis Player Who Beat Serena Williams in the U.S. Open is a post from: Gossip On This - Pop Culture, News, Videos & Humor