Who is Naomi Osaka?

Quick facts

• Born: Osaka, Japan; raised in Long Island, New York, then Broward County, Florida
• Heritage: Haitian father, Leonard François, from Jacmel, Haiti, and a Japanese mother, Tamaki Osaka; raised in the United States
• Nationality: Japanese. She also held US citizenship until 2019, when she gave it up to play for Japan at the Tokyo Olympics.
• Events: Singles (primarily hardcourt)
• Grand Slam titles: Four: US Open (2018, 2020), Australian Open (2019, 2021)
• World No. 1: Ranked world No. 1 in women’s singles by the WTA for 25 weeks starting in January 2019, the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles.
• Daughter: Shai, born July 2023
• Current ranking: 17th in the world

Their story

Osaka was born in Japan to a Haitian father and a Japanese mother, and the family relocated to Long Island, New York, where her father began training Naomi Osaka and her sister, Mari, in tennis, inspired by the Williams sisters. After five years in New York, the family moved to Broward County, Florida, where the girls focused on tennis full-time, training on public courts during the day and being homeschooled at night.

She made her professional debut in 2012, aged just 14, without ever competing on the junior circuit. That choice alone signals something: she was not interested in the slow lane.

When her mother Tamaki’s father found out she was dating a non-Japanese man, he accused her of bringing shame upon the family. That is the household Naomi came from, one that already knew what it meant to defy expectation and carry on anyway.

Haitian, Japanese and raised in America

Her father, Leonard François, was born in Jacmel, on Haiti’s southern coast, and moved to the United States to study before meeting her mother in Japan. He was her first coach, and she has spoken proudly of her Black and Haitian roots throughout her career.

She visited Haiti in 2019 and was welcomed as one of the country’s own. When an earthquake struck Haiti in August 2021, she pledged all her prize money from the Western & Southern Open to relief efforts, and her Play Academy expanded to Haiti that year to get more girls playing sport. In February 2026 she wrote that she felt she needed to go back to Haiti soon.

What they have achieved

In 2018, Osaka captured her first two career titles: at Indian Wells, where she defeated three former world No. 1s, Maria Sharapova, Karolina Pliskova and Simona Halep, and then at the US Open, where she overcame Serena Williams in the final. That win made her Japan’s first ever Grand Slam tennis champion.

At the very next major, Osaka battled through to the 2019 Australian Open final, and after squandering three match points in the second set, took the decider to complete back-to-back Slam triumphs and rise to world No. 1.

She completed a second US Open and Australian Open double in 2020 and 2021, establishing herself as a global superstar and a symbol of diversity. She was also chosen as the final torchbearer at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Beyond the game

Osaka’s impact outside of tennis is where her story gets genuinely remarkable.

She withdrew from the 2020 Cincinnati Open to raise awareness for the shooting of Jacob Blake, and for the 2020 US Open wore masks displaying the names of several Black Americans who were victims of police brutality, including Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin and George Floyd.

Then came the moment that changed professional sport’s conversation about mental health. Osaka withdrew from the 2021 French Open, one day after being fined $15,000 and threatened with suspension for refusing to appear at press conferences, writing that those media appearances caused “huge waves of anxiety.” She revealed she had “suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018.” Swimmer Michael Phelps, who has spoken openly about his own mental health struggles, told her that by speaking up she may have saved a life.

Her Play Academy, set up with Nike and Laureus, funds sport programs for girls in Japan, Haiti and Los Angeles.

In her own words

On the 2021 earthquake in Haiti:

“Really hurts to see all the devastation that’s going on in Haiti, and I feel like we really can’t catch a break. I’m about to play a tournament this week and I’ll give all the prize money to relief efforts for Haiti. I know our ancestors blood is strong we’ll keep rising.”

On visiting Haiti in 2019:

“It was really one of the warmest welcomes I’ve ever had, if not the warmest.”

On stepping away:

“I kind of felt like it was necessary, but I kind of felt ashamed in that moment. As an athlete, you’re told to be strong and push through everything. I think I learned that it’s better to regroup and address the feelings that you have in that moment, and you can come back stronger.”

On what’s next:

“I have a lot of goals going forward. For as long as I can play, I really want to win Wimbledon and Roland Garros and get a career grand slam.”

The comeback

Osaka took a 15-month break to give birth to daughter Shai in July 2023, then returned to play in 2024. The latest proof of her return to the very highest level came at the 2025 US Open, where she reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in four years. Her 2026 season has showcased deeper runs more consistently, going further on surfaces that are not her favorite hardcourt, with a quarterfinal at Wimbledon and a final in Bad Homburg as the highlights. In 2024 she won 20 matches, 25 in 2025, and 28 in 2026 so far. She is not chasing who she was. She is becoming something more complete.