Bill Simons
As Naomi Osaka was sprinting to the 2018 US Open title, her coach at the time, Sascha Bajin, pictured her as a young, fresh force and spoke of her inspiring nature.
In the media center he told reporters, “Everyone in this room could learn from her innocence.” He added she was “beautifully different.” That has been long clear. The self-effacing Osaka quipped the other day, “I’m weird. It’s kind of a fact.” But hers is an enchanting, brave and wonderful kind of weird.
When Serena became so incredibly upset during the 2018 US Open final, the whole world saw Osaka’s beguiling combination of gentle sweetness and uncanny inner strength.
Inevitably Osaka would lose a measure of her innocence. She fired her coach, changed her team and faced her depression. She won the 2019 Australian Open, but then her play wavered.
For her, the COVID shutdown was hardly a vacation. She said recently, “The biggest thing was to grow as a person…and lessen the number of regrets that I have.”
She confronted her shyness. And when American streets filled with people calling for justice, she didn’t want to be an athlete who just “shut up and dribbled.”
Yes, the No.10 in the world, who is of Japanese and Haitian heritage, views herself as “a normal 22-year old, except I am good at tennis.” Still, she fearlessly went to the front lines and visited the George Floyd Memorial in Minneapolis, signed petitions and spoke her truth in an Esquire article.
She wrote, “I decided it was time to speak up. So what I will say here, I never would have imagined writing two years ago…George Floyd was murdered by people paid to protect him…Being not racist is not enough. We have to be anti-racist.”
Wednesday she saw the NBA was shutting down and realized, ”I needed to raise my voice. So I called Stu, my agent, and we talked it over. Then we called the WTA, and they said that they would love to support [my decision] and they were going to push play back a day. So I put out my statement…[Still] it was a bit frightening.”
She announced she would not be playing her semi against Elise Mertens on Thursday and explained, “As a black woman I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand that need immediate attention, rather than watching me play tennis. I don’t expect anything drastic to happen with me not playing, but if I can get a conversation started in a majority white sport I consider that a step in the right direction.
“Watching the continued genocide of Black people at the hand of the police is honestly making me sick to my stomach. I’m exhausted of having a new hashtag pop up every few days and I’m extremely tired of having this same conversation over and over again. When will it ever be enough?”
Wow. Tennis has a noble history of strong statements of conscience. Alice Marble stepped up in 1950 and insisted African American Althea Gibson should be allowed to play in an all-white sport. On a different front, Stan Wawrinka addressed Novak Djokovic’s questionable leadership in the Justin Gimelstob matter and wrote a moving statement calling for integrity and honesty in the ATP.
Clearly, Osaka’s statement, which came in the wake of a move by the NBA, is part of a new wave.
“We’re seeing these young female players feeling it and doing something. Racism has to stop,” said ESPN’s Chris McKendry. When asked about Coco Gauff’s recent anti-racist speech, Naomi chuckled, “I love her for that. She seems to be taking charge on and off court.”
Osaka has drawn plenty of attention before. Last year Colin Kaepernick and Kobe Bryant sat in her US Open box. Displaying her usual modesty she said she “felt I wasn’t worthy of knowing Kobe and having his phone number.”
Others felt Naomi was worthy. Andy Murray gave her three thumbs up. Emerging ATP pro Christopher Eubanks wrote, “You are truly amazing.” Billie Jean King tweeted, “A brave & impactful move by Naomi Osaka in support of the protest movement moving through the sports world…Athletes using platforms for good means so much. Don’t remain silent. #BlackLivesMatter.” Canadian Milos Raonic, the Western and Southern finalist, praised her emphatically and insisted that much more has to be done.
Osaka couldn’t sleep last night and woke up sweating. Reflecting on her decision, she said, “Honestly, when I posted it, I just thought it would make rounds in the tennis circle. I wasn’t aware the reach that it would get. So…it was a bit frightening…I had to turn off my phone because I get really anxious whenever I see people talking about me. But then honestly I did put myself in that situation, so that was kind of stupid.
“Everyone that I know was super nice. It’s definitely a bit eye-opening…I previously thought that only the Big Three and Serena would have that type of power…[But] maybe this generation of tennis players won’t be too scared of the consequences of saying things that are on their mind. That would be really nice to see.”
After the USTA, WTA and ATP followed Naomi’s lead and paused play on Thursday, Naomi decided to play her semi against Belgian Elise Mertens. “In my brain I knew I had to win. There was no other possibility.”
Today Osaka scored a 6-2, 7-6(5) win and will now face the resurgent Victoria Azarenka in Saturday’s Western and Southern Open final. Naomi noted, “I feel like I have to reel back all those emotions and just focus.”
There is a conventional wisdom that the man and woman in sports who had the most impact on society in the 20th century were Jackie Robinson and Billie Jean King. But it’s been noted that Robinson’s breakthrough came with the full and ongoing support of an entire organization, the Brooklyn Dodgers, while King’s moves were made just by herself and a precious few allies.
On her own, Naomi shook the tennis world Wednesday. Courtney Nguyen told us, “Never underestimate the strength of Osaka.” Now, more than ever, we know why.
