Portrait · Tatiana / Kulitat; crop by Kacir / CC BY-SA 2.0 Naomi Osaka Tennis player, author and producer
Born 1997
Naomi Osaka is a Japanese tennis player, author and producer born in Osaka in 1997. Her mother is Japanese and her father is Haitian. Her family moved to the United States when she was a young child; she and her older sister Mari trained together, with their father guiding their first years on public courts. Florida training and home schooling later allowed tennis to shape the family’s daily life. Original longform interviews describe the sisters’ close companionship and the practical support of both parents. Osaka entered WTA qualifying in 2013 and made her main-draw debut at Stanford the next year. A Tokyo final and the 2016 WTA Newcomer honor signaled her arrival. Indian Wells and the US Open became her first tour championships in 2018. She added the Australian Open in 2019 and reached world No.1. Her second US Open and Australian Open titles brought the major total to four. Play Academy, created with Nike and Laureus in 2020, extends her interest in girls’ access to sport. The North Carolina Courage announced her investment in 2021. A period away from competition included the birth of her daughter Shai in 2023, before her tour return. More recent tournament records include Auckland and Montreal finals, a Saint-Malo title and a US Open semifinal in 2025. Her 2026 Wimbledon run reached a first quarterfinal after a victory over Aryna Sabalenka. Her September US Open campaign ended in the fourth round against Elena Rybakina. In a January press conference, she described offseason work on decision-making and recognising chances to move forward. The same conversation describes bedtime reading with her daughter, keeping family life alongside competition. Beyond matches, Garrett Bradley’s three-part Netflix series documents her life, while Kathleen Jayme’s The Second Set follows another chapter. She co-founded Hana Kuma with Stuart Duguid and is an executive producer of Julie Keeps Quiet. Her children’s book The Way Champs Play, illustrated by Kamala Nair, treats sport as something children can share. Her public style work also connects tennis with fashion: a 2026 US Open interview explains a basketball-inspired collaboration with Who Decides War and Law Roach. First-person accounts of music, food, training and beauty are retained with their dates and sponsor context. Historical pet answers and her public co-parenting statement remain carefully scoped to what the sources establish.
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Connected people 01 HarperCollins
Edition Attribution.
02 WTA
Naomi Osaka: personal biography and career chronology Attribution.
03 WTA
Naomi Osaka: official tournament record Attribution.
04 National Women’s History Museum / Mariana Brandman
Naomi Osaka: institutional biography Attribution.
05 Film Movement
Julie Keeps Quiet: executive-producer credit Attribution.
06 BBFC
Naomi Osaka:2021 Netflix limited-series record Attribution.
07 Apple Music / Beats by Dre
Beats Solo4: Naomi Osaka’s curated playlist Attribution.
08 Laureus
Naomi Osaka:2021 winner and award history Attribution.
09 WTA / Noah Poser
Osaka reaches her first Wimbledon quarterfinal Attribution.
10 ASAP Sports / Naomi Osaka
Australian Open press conference Attribution.
Copyright licence recorded
Image rights ledger Naomi Osaka photographed in2014, portrait crop Media: Tatiana / Kulitat; crop by Kacir
Display crop; contextual editorial use. No model release established.
Naomi Osaka at the 2020USOpen final Media: Andrew Henkelman; crop by Sportsfan77777
Actual own-work CC BY-SA4.0 source verified. September 12,2020 photo; September 15crop retained.3318x5776vertical pixels personally inspected: solo waist-up smiling player, sponsors incidental, no synthetic art or watermark. Editorial context; no separate publicity/model grant asserted.
