Naomi Osaka was born on October 16, 1997, in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan, to parents Tamaki Osaka and Leonard François. From her father's side, Osaka has Haitian roots, but she grew up in Elmont, New York, in the United States, where her family moved when she was three years old.
And that's where her tennis journey started after her father saw Serena Williams and Venus Williams compete at the 1999 Roland Garros. Along with her older sister Mari, who later also became a professional player, their father started coaching them in tennis.
Already early in her career, Osaka's father made a decision that even though she was raised in the United States, she and her sister would represent Japan, as that's the culture that they were raised in, and both felt Japanese.
Osaka didn't have a lot of experience in the junior categories, as she didn't really compete in any of the tournaments on the ITF Junior Circuit. She skipped directly to the ITF Circuit, and in 2014, she made her debut on the WTA Tour at the Stanford Classic.
Soon after her debut, Osaka started showing her qualities, finishing the 2016 season as world no. 40 in the WTA Rankings. Only two years later, she had a major breakthrough, winning the 2018 Indian Wells Masters and the 2018 US Open to finish the year as world no. 5.
In 2019, Osaka added another Grand Slam title to her collection, something that would be a trend in her career until 2021. In 2019, she won the Australian Open, before winning the US Open again in 2020 and the Australian Open again in 2021.
Already in January 2019, Osaka reached the world no. 1 spot on the WTA Tour, and she was one of the most consistent players when it came to the hard courts. In January 2023, Osaka announced her pregnancy, and she subsequently missed the full 2023 season.
