“Growing up, I saw my mother work incredibly hard to support me and my passion for play,” Naomi Osaka said back in 2021 while talking about her mother Tamaki Osaka’s impact on her career. She was the one because of whom Osaka chose to represent Japan, despite growing up in the United States. Osaka’s mother is Japanese while her father Leonard hails from Haiti. If you have followed Naomi throughout her career, you may have witnessed some familiar faces in her player’s box most of the time. Her mother happens to be one of them. And, She’s by her side in Miami as well, where Osaka is showing tremendous form, coming back from injury.
After Osaka won her opening match of the Miami Open against Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva on Tuesday, she revealed her true feelings about being able to enjoy the company of her mother as well as her little one. Yes, Osaka’s 18-month-old daughter Shai is also with her in Florida, completing the trio. “I consider Miami my home. I wanted to stay on the court as long as possible. They kept me going and I’m glad I won. My mom is here. I’m spending a lot of time with her and my daughter. I’m just happy to keep going here,” Osaka said in the post-match interview after beating Starodubtseva.
And, she reiterated her sentiments once again on Saturday, after her third-round victory against Hailey Baptiste. Osaka ousted the American WTA pro with a score line of 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4. In the press conference, dated March 22, the 27-year-old was asked about the experience of playing in front of her mother and the four-time GS champion got candid.
“Yes, it’s really special to me. I think also viewing her as my daughter and then viewing her as a mom to my daughter, just seeing the different parallels, I realize how – I hope she’s proud – how proud she must be because we did grow up here, we played on public courts not too far away. Now to be playing in the Miami Open where we used to come watch is really cool,” Osaka said.
Tennis – Italian Open – Foro Italico, Rome, Italy – May 9, 2024 Japan’s Naomi Osaka celebrates winning her round of 64 match against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Recalling playful banters with her mother, regarding outfit selections, the former World No. 1 added, “She’s just always really happy and very vocal. She’s always the one with the monochrome outfit. Every match day, she asks me, Which color should I wear? It’s really cute (smiling). She doesn’t get to come to a lot of tournaments, so it’s really fun when she’s able to.”
It’s surely not the first time that Tamaki has been a part of Osaka’s campaign in a big tournament. Nearly five years ago, she was involved in her victorious US Open run too. Not physically, but virtually!
When mother Tamaki sent a key advice to Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka lifted her third Grand Slam title at the 2020 US Open and apart from her coaching team, her mother also had a key role to play in that. She gave some crucial advice to Osaka following her second-round win over Camila Giorgi. As the match wrapped up, Naomi was joined by Tamaki, over a video call, on the courtside.
What followed was a slightly awkward interaction between the daughter and the mother. Well, the audio connection was not fluid enough. But Tamaki didn’t waste time and showed Osaka a sheet of paper with a special message. But what was written on it? “I wasn’t expecting it (the call) to happen. It was a surprise. Apparently my sister told my mom to do it,” Osaka later told the reporters,
Throwing light on her mother’s message, she added, “There were four lines. Thumbs up fire, which is like ‘good job’. There was like a Twitter bird, whatever. She was saying ‘Don’t go on social media, get some sleep’. Then ‘drink a lot of green juice, get some rest’. And ‘I love you’.”
“… It was kind of a tech issue because normally I’m able to talk to her quite soundly. It would be kind of bad if all our conversations ended up like that. Definitely was a tech issue.”
Despite the connection obstacles, Tamaki was able to deliver her message and perhaps it proved effective as well. Eventually, Osaka went on to lift her second US Open trophy, beating Victoria Azarenka 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Now that Tamaki is in Miami to cheer for Naomi again, will her presence result in another title win for the former World No.1? What do you think?
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