{"id":5255,"date":"2026-04-14T08:29:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/5255\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T08:29:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:29:57","slug":"naomi-osaka-biography-age-rankings-u-s-open-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/5255\/","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka | Biography, Age, Rankings, U.S. Open, & Parents"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tTable of Contents<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tTable of Contents<\/p>\n

Quick Summary<\/p>\n

Ask Anything<\/p>\n

\n Top Questions\n <\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka is a Japanese tennis<\/a> player and social justice advocate who, in 2019, became the first Asian player to reach the top of the Women\u2019s Tennis Association\u00a0world rankings.\u00a0She is also the first tennis player from Japan<\/a> to win a Grand Slam singles title. Read Britannica\u2019s interview with Naomi Osaka<\/a> to learn more about her.<\/p>\n

Where did Naomi Osaka grow up? <\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka was born in \u014csaka<\/a>, Japan, in 1997 and raised in Japan until age three, when she moved to the United States<\/a>. She lived on Long Island<\/a>, New York, until she moved to Florida<\/a> in 2006.<\/p>\n

Where are Naomi Osaka\u2019s parents from? <\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka\u2019s father, Leonard Francois, is from Haiti<\/a>, and her mother, Tamaki Osaka, is from Japan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka (born October 16, 1997, \u014csaka<\/a>, Japan) is a tennis<\/a> player and activist who, with her victory at the 2018 U.S. Open<\/a>, became the first player from Japan<\/a> to win a Grand Slam singles title. The following year she became the first Asian player to ascend<\/a> to the top of the Women\u2019s Tennis Association (WTA) world rankings. In addition, Osaka is known as an advocate for social justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Read Britannica\u2019s interview with Naomi Osaka.)<\/a><\/p>\n

Childhood and turning professional <\/p>\n

Osaka was born to a Haitian<\/a> father and a Japanese mother. She was raised in Japan until age three, when her family relocated to Long Island<\/a>, New York<\/a>. There her father encouraged her to take up tennis. After the family moved to Florida<\/a> in 2006, Osaka practiced tennis during the day and was homeschooled<\/a> at night. She bypassed junior competition to turn professional in 2013 and soon received support from the Japanese tennis federation. Over the next few years she emerged as one of the sport\u2019s most promising young players. In 2016 she advanced to the round of 32 at three Grand Slam tournaments\u2014the Australian Open<\/a>, the French Open<\/a>, and the U.S. Open<\/a>. At the last of those tournaments her serve<\/a> was clocked at 125 miles (201 km) per hour, one of the fastest serves ever recorded in the women\u2019s game. Osaka was named the 2016 Newcomer of the Year by the WTA.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Serena<\/p>\n

Britannica Quiz<\/p>\n

Great Moments in Sports Quiz<\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

(Read Chris Evert\u2019s Britannica entry on the U.S. Open.)<\/a><\/p>\n

Rise to the top of the women\u2019s tour <\/p>\n

In March 2018 Osaka captured her first WTA Tour title, winning the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells<\/a>, California<\/a>. Some six months later she faced Serena Williams<\/a>\u2014one of her childhood idols\u2014in the championship match of the U.S. Open and bested her in straight sets. Osaka triumphed<\/a> again at the 2019 Australian Open, where she notched a three-set victory over Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic<\/a> in the finals. With that win Osaka became the first woman to claim consecutive Grand Slam singles titles since Williams accomplished the feat in 2015. On January 28, 2019, Osaka officially assumed the number one world ranking. She held the top spot for 21 weeks, until overtaken by Australian Ashleigh Barty<\/a> in June. Later in the year Osaka again sat atop the world rankings, for two weeks beginning in mid-August.<\/p>\n

Osaka\u2019s outspokenness on issues of social justice<\/a> has also attracted widespread attention. In August 2020 she temporarily withdrew from the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament in New York as a means of showing solidarity with Black Lives Matter<\/a> protests that were occurring in cities across the United States<\/a> that summer. At the U.S. Open the following month, during the COVID-19<\/a> pandemic, she wore a series of face masks featuring the names of African Americans<\/a> who had died at the hands of police or in alleged<\/a> racially motivated attacks carried out by others. She stated that the face masks were part of her effort \u201cto make people start talking.\u201d Osaka triumphed at the tournament, winning the U.S. Open title for a second time. In recognition of her tennis success and activism, the Associated Press<\/a> selected Osaka as the Female Athlete of the Year for 2020.<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka<\/a>Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka after winning the U.S. Open, 2020.(more)<\/p>\n

Osaka added to her collection of Grand Slam trophies in February 2021 when she secured a second Australian Open title. She was the 16th woman of the open era (since 1968) to have won four Grand Slam singles championships. The following May, citing mental health<\/a> concerns, she withdrew from the French Open after having been fined by the organizers for skipping press conferences during the tournament. She later revealed that she had suffered bouts of depression<\/a> since 2018 and that she planned to take a break from competition. Osaka opted not to play at Wimbledon<\/a> in 2021, but later that year she competed at the U.S. Open, where she lost in the third round. She subsequently went on a four-month hiatus<\/a>, returning to competition in early 2022. At that year\u2019s Australian Open, Osaka experienced another loss in the third round, and she lost in the first round of that year\u2019s U.S. Open.<\/p>\n

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\"Penguin,<\/p>\n

\"shohei<\/p>\n

\"Mobile\"<\/p>\n

International play and hiatus <\/p>\n

On several occasions Osaka represented Japan in international competitions. She played on the Japanese Fed Cup<\/a> team in 2017, 2018, and 2020. In October 2019 Osaka, who held dual citizenship with Japan and the United States, announced that she would relinquish her U.S. citizenship and compete for Japan in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo<\/a>. Postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Games opened in July 2021, and Osaka was given the honor of lighting the Olympic cauldron. She competed in the Olympic tennis tournament but lost in the third round.<\/p>\n

In January 2023 Osaka announced that she was pregnant and would not compete that year. Her daughter was born in July 2023. In January 2024 Osaka returned to tennis, and that month she competed at the Australian Open, where she lost in the first round. She was more competitive in the French Open, where she lost a close second-round match to number-one ranked Iga \u015awi\u0105tek<\/a>. Osaka then competed at Wimbledon and lost in the second round. She had another disappointing result later in July, at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games<\/a>, losing in the first round. Nevertheless, the four-time Grand Slam champion was determined to regain her form, saying after the match, \u201cI guess I need to learn how to win again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tQuick Facts<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBorn:
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 16, 1997, \u014csaka, Japan<\/a> (age 28)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Show\u00a0more)<\/p>\n

Indeed, Osaka showed marked improvement in the 2025 season. In January she reached the final of the Auckland Open, and four months later she won the title at Saint-Malo, France<\/a>, her first victory since capturing the 2021 Australian Open. She also made the final at Montreal in August, and the following month she advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Open, where she was defeated in a close match against Amanda Anisimova of the United States. At the 2026 Australian Open, Osaka advanced to the third round but was forced to withdraw<\/a> because of an abdominal injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Table of Contents Table of Contents Quick Summary Ask Anything Top Questions Naomi Osaka is a Japanese tennis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[185,184,183,182,8,4469,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-5255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-osaka","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-britannica","10":"tag-encyclopeadia","11":"tag-encyclopedia","12":"tag-japan","13":"tag-naomi-osaka","14":"tag-osaka"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}