Opinion | ‘I am tan, it’s pretty obvious’: biracial pioneer Naomi Osaka is pushing boundaries to forge a new Japan
- She is clearly a woman of colour and famous for that so why erase that in your advertising?
- Now world’s number one after winning the Australian Open
Japan’s Naomi Osaka wishes to be whoever she wants to be and right now she wants to be the best tennis player in the world. After beating Czech Petra Kvitova in a gut-wrenching Australian Open final, she is well on her way.
One year ago Osaka was ranked number 72 in the world. After back-to-back grand slam victories at the US and Australian Open, she is now the world number one at the ripe old age of 21. Statistically at least, she is the best female tennis player in the world.
Born in Osaka to a Japanese mother and Haitian father, Osaka is also a biracial pioneer in a country desperately in need of one. As much as she would love to be known strictly for her tennis, it’s not quite that simple and likely never will be.
On the court, she is in total control. Remarkably precocious, Osaka does an enviable job of staying in the moment during matches, a trait that the most decorated female tennis player in Asia noticed almost immediately.
“When I first saw Naomi play I thought she was really calm, very mature on court,” China’s Li Na, a two-time grand slam champ, said this week in Melbourne. “She was so focused on her game itself, no pressure, point by point and it really impressed me.”
Luckily, when it comes to the mental game Osaka has few peers both on and off the court. As she was preparing for the quarter-finals in Melbourne this week, a scandal erupted after Japan Times columnist Baye McNeil wrote about how one of Osaka’s primary sponsors, Nissin Noodles, had made the biracial player an unrecognisable shade of white in a promotional anime cartoon.