Naomi Osaka – The Global Socially Woke Queen of Tennis
Naomi Osaka, the world’s highest paid female athlete, won the US Open Women’s Singles final, and wore a seventh customized mask with the name of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, one of the many Black people who were unjustly killed by the police or the civilians in acts of racial injustice.
Tamir Rice was a 12-year-old boy who was shot and killed in Cleveland in 2014 by a white police officer. On the occasion of her seventh season match, Osaka wore a customized black mask with the name of the boy printed across it in white from ear to ear and walked out onto the court on Saturday, September 12th, 2020 at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York state. About her decision to wear masks with the names of the killed and the abused, she said, “I wanted more people to say more names”, as reported by the New York Times.
Osaka won the 3-set match after losing the first set at 1-6 against Victoria Azarenka, followed by plays of 6-3 for both of the next two matches. This feat has only been managed once before in 1994 by Arantxa Sánchez Vicario’s victory against Steffi Graf!
Over the span of the past three weeks, she stepped onto the court in a custom mask and answered over a hundred English and Japanese questions about her motive for doing so. However, after the past weekend’s play, all that Osaka said when asked to explain her reasoning was “Well, what was the message you got?” instead of giving an explanation yet again!
After the victory, the Women’s Singles champion tweeted saying:
I would like to thank my ancestors because everytime I remember their blood runs through my veins I am reminded that I cannot lose.
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) September 13, 2020
Congratulations on your 3rd Grand Slam at a singles final, Naomi! You deserve this!
Credit: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times