by Ben Rothenberg, 2024
Very detailed biography on tennis player, Naomi Osaka. I happened to see it on the shelf at the library and grabbed it. It answered all my questions about Naomi – why is her last name Osaka when it’s her mother who is Japanese? Why does she play for Japan? Why did she fire her coach, Sascha Bajin? It all makes sense now.
Her father is black and Haitian, Leonard Maxime Francois. He moved to Brooklyn when he was in his teens and became a naturalized American citizen. He moved to Japan after going there with a Japanese friend and liking it so much. Her mother is Japanese, daughter and granddaughter of Japanese fishermen from Hokkaido. Her mother and father fell in love in Japan. Her father moved from NYC to Japan at the advice of some friends. They had to elope because it was unacceptable to be an interracial couple in Japan. They lived in Osaka, Japan, which also happens to be Naomi’s mother’s last name. When they had Naomi’s big sister, Mari, on April 3, 1996, they decided to give her the Osaka name as her last name, to lessen the “consternation” a foreign name would cause for them in Japan. Naomi was born on October 16, 1997. When Naomi was 3 and her sister was 5, their father watched Venus and Serena playing in the doubles final at the 1999 French Open. He decided then and there that they would follow in their footsteps. He started them playing tennis at 3 and 5, and he was their coach. He followed the pattern Richard Williams used with Venus and Serena. It was hard to find tennis opportunities in Japan, so they moved to NYC in spring of 2001, when Naomi was 3. When the winters in NYC made it hard to practice, he moved them to Florida. Their mother, Tamaki, was the breadwinner, and she had a good job in NYC but left it in order to stay with her daughters and husband. She worked 2 jobs much of Naomi’s life, trying to support the family. They were almost evicted once in Florida, but Naomi managed to win a tournament in California and made $10,000, enough to pay their rent and expenses and keep them from being evicted.
When they were going to school in NYC at a very young age, their teacher told their Mom that speaking Japanese in the home was keeping them from learning English. From that moment on, they had to stop speaking Japanese and were only allowed to speak English. That’s why Naomi can’t speak Japanese and sounds like an American.
Why does she play for Japan? Honestly, she thinks of herself as Japanese. That is where she was born. Her mother is Japanese. Her mannerisms are Japanese. They also offered her more lucrative sponsors than the USA, but it is pretty clear she considers herself Japanese and is really bummed that she can’t speak the language any longer. She worked hard during off-seasons at first, trying to relearn the language.
Why did she fire Sascha Bajin? This one is hard to say, but I think he may have broken her heart. She accused him of having a relationship with another WTA player, which he denied one day and admitted to her the next day. I think she may have been in love with him and he broke her heart.
As far as her meltdown and mental weakness, asking to be excused from press conferences at the French Open, I think she had every right to do so. She was asked some of the most pointed and personal questions, especially after firing Bajin, and was treated terribly by some journalists looking to hurt her because of her race, her gender, her monetary success, etc. Some really ugly things were said about her. She was always a sweetheart and tried to answer all of the questions asked of her. I would have cracked up long before she did. She didn’t really crack up, she just needed to take some breaks.
Now, she is back on tour after having her baby, Shai. She re-hired Wim Fissette, her long-term coach after Bajin, with whom she won 2 more majors. She hired him away from Qinwen Zheng, young Chinese tennis sensation.
I also learned a lot about Serena, because Serena is Naomi’s idol–she loves her! So much involved in the 2018 US Open and reporters wanted her to talk bad about Serena and she never, ever would. She loves her, respects her, idolizes her. What I learned about Serena is that Wayne is correct about her. She is a very, very mean person. She said that men on the ATP get away with what she did (threaten line judges and umps – really ugly threats – unbelievably ugly) but that is simply not true. Serena is mean, and has a huge chip on her shoulder, but that being said, there were some terrible things that happened to her and Venus early on. Also, being a tennis superstar is not easy – some of the most intensely scrutinized, criticized athletes in the world.
Wayne’s idea that the pressure is what finally got to Naomi because she is ultra-shy and introverted, is right on. She said she really only knew about 5 people her whole life – her family – and knowing what to say and not to say to others, how to act, how to be socially, was/is a real trial for her.
An excellent book. I’m very glad I read it. I really should buy it – I book-marked many, many pages. Excellent writer!
Tidbits:
“Naomi, you suck,” are the words that crushed her in Indian Wells in 2022 against Kudermetova. She could not overcome them and lost the match. She asked for the microphone after the match and told the crowd that it made her think of Indian Wells in 2001 when the crowd was booing Serena on the court, and Venus and their father in the stands, mercilessly, because Venus pulled out of the semi-final match against Serena at the last minute, and they believed their father made Venus do so in order to allow Serena to play in the final. The crowd at Indian Wells that night was akin to a lynch mob. Serena and Venus didn’t go back to Indian Wells until 14 years later.
He tells about Patrick McEnroe telling Taylor Townsend at age 15, when she was the #1 junior in the world, to work on her conditioning and fitness, rather than continue competing. She was winning! She could have gotten into the US Open main draw if she could have competed in the 18-and-under national championships. They ruined her, literally.
He also talks about Sascha Bajin – born in 1984, mother is German, father is Serbian. His father was a tennis coach and trained him starting at age 4. His grandfather, rich property owner in Serbia, died after being poisoned. Then, his dad dies in a car accident under suspicious circumstances. He lost all motivation to be a tennis pro. Instead, he became a certified tennis coach, which takes 3 years in Germany.
When Naomi won Indian Wells in 2018, she won enough money to retire her mother, who had been working long hours and multiple jobs so that their father, Leonard, could coach the girls.
He talks about Serena’s near-death experience after a C-section delivering Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. She knew the feeling of a blood clot in her lung and had to demand the doctors do a CAT scan with dye to check. Sure enough, she had a pulmonary embolism. She would have died had she not insisted they check. She knew what they felt like because she had one 7 years earlier.
In order to get Naomi’s mind off of tennis so she wouldn’t overthink things during her 2018 US Open run, Bajin bought her a 55-inch TV and carried it 3 blocks through Manhattan and had it installed in her hotel so she could play video games and get her mind off of tennis.
When Serena was in the 2004 US Open quarter-final against Capriati, a terrible lower-ranked umpire silently called a completely in ball as out, causing Serena to be rightfully outraged and lose the match. This led to Hawkeye becoming available for players so they could challenge calls. Later US Opens, however, Serena’s outbursts were not called for at all. She yelled at a line judge, “I swear to God I’ll fucking take this ball and shove it down your fucking throat! Do you hear me?” She was given a code violation and it was her second because she had previously broken her racket. Then, in the 2011 US Open final, she blew up at the chair umpire because she called Serena for hindrance. Serena said, “I hate you.” That prompted the code violation. Then Serena said things like, “I promise you, if you ever see me walking down the hall, look the other way. Because you’re out of control…you’re a hater and you’re unattractive inside…And I never complain…You give a code violation because I expressed who I am?…”
Serena felt bad every night after the US Open in 2018. She talked with a therapist. She realized she needed to apologize to Naomi. “…As I said on the court, I am so proud of you and I am truly sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing in sticking up for myself. But I had no idea the media would pit us against each other. I would love to live that moment over again…”
What happened in the 2018 US Open final was Patrick Mouratoglou was seen giving hand signals to Serena, which she probably didn’t even see, but the chair umpire, Carlos Ramos, gave her a warning for coaching. Serena blew up and said she never, ever cheats. She demanded an apology from Carlos Ramos and wouldn’t let it go. Later, they kind of came to some sort of agreement and Serena thought the warning was rescinded, but when she was given a game point violation for breaking her racquet, she blew up again. It was awful. She kept demanding an apology from Ramos at every changeover. She called him a thief. He said, “Code violation: verbal abuse. Game penalty, Mrs. Williams.” Unfortunately, Serena didn’t hear him. Neither did Naomi – Naomi thought the crowd was booing her. She couldn’t hear what was going on between Serena and Carlos Ramos, but the booing of the crowd and Serena’s anger were killing her inside. Then the referee and supervisor came on the court and a long, long, contentious discussion ensued. Serena said, “But do you know how many other men, how many other men do things that are much worse than that?”
It was an ugly, ugly scene. Naomi wins but is in tears afterwards and the trophy ceremony and celebration are painful for her. Serena really, really owed her an apology. Naomi never thought so, though. She respected and loved Serena to the end.
He talks about how Japanese journalists loved Naomi and said Naomi was “Japanese in her soul;” the way she tilts her head, plays aggressively but is humble, and doesn’t express her joy excessively.
He writes about Petra Kvitova – In December 2016, a robber with a knife entered her apartment in Prostejov, Czech Republic, “under the guise of checking a utility meter.” Petra struggled with him and grabbed the blade of his knife with her dominant left hand as he was holding it to her throat. Her injuries required hours of surgery to reconnect tendons and nerves and 2 years of rehabilitation.
When she won the Australian Open in 2019, it was shortly after that, that she fired Sascha Bajin. They called a team meeting and she asked him about his “off-court relationship with another player.” Bajin denied it repeatedly but the next day he confessed it was true. She fired him two weeks later – the coach with whom she had 2 grand slams, was now #1, and he was Coach of the Year.
Later that summer, he mentions about Serena losing a match and storming to her press conference, demanding it take place right away, and forcing Dominic Thiem’s press conference to end.
He writes about the friendship Naomi forged with Kobe Bryant. “He called her Little Sis and she called him Big Bro.”
Naomi started to lose in tournaments after she fired Bajin. Reporters would ask her if it was related to her firing of Bajin. Those questions were very, very hard for Naomi. She started to cry a lot in the press conferences and really be uncomfortable. They also wanted her to talk bad about Serena, and she never, ever said a bad word about Serena. She always talked about Serena in the most glowing terms.
During the pandemic and after the killing of George Floyd, Naomi found her voice. She started to use her power to draw attention to racial injustice. She wanted to boycott playing in the Cincinnati Open. It did result in a one-day pause in play. Then, in the 2020 U.S. Open, she wore a different mask each day with the names of young blacks who had been murdered by the police: Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice.
He talks about Azarenka, who gave birth to Leo in December 2016, but was sidelined “because of a custody dispute with Leo’s father, Billy McKeague.”
He writes about her first trip to Haiti in 2017. She loves her Haitian heritage. She saw how little the Haitians had and realized how lucky she was: “Why are you complaining about your life?” He mentions her boyfriend, Cordae, is a voracious reader and gave her a copy of The Wretched of the Earth to read.
He writes about Naomi being questioned on closing in again to the world number 1 ranking, got her thinking uncharacteristically about rankings and that put pressure on her and caused her to lose, and she said, “I felt like everything was sort of loud in my head.”
He writes about how most reporters were very kind and gentle with Naomi once she resumed press conferences. But one guy, Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Enquirer, attacked her with a question: “You’re not crazy about dealing with us, especially in this format [Zoom, he didn’t have his camera on either], yet you have a lot of outside interests that are served by having a media platform. I guess my question is, How do you balance the two? And also, do you have anything you’d like to share with us about what you did say to Simone Biles?” Naomi did her best to answer his question, she was kind to him – said, “I’m not really sure how to balance the two, I’m figuring it out at the same time as you are, I would say.” Her agent, Duguid, asked to be quoted: “The bully at the Cincinnati Enquirer is the epitome of why player/media relations are so fraught right now. Everyone on that Zoom will agree that his tone was all wrong and his sole purpose was to intimidate. Really appalling behavior. And this insinuation that Naomi owes her off-court success to the media is a myth–don’t be so self-indulgent.”
He talks about Mardy Fish’s struggles with mental health because of tennis. They are made to feel they don’t have a choice – they must continue to play. Their whole life is staring at the lines of a tennis court. They can’t show any weakness or fear or negative emotions. He was a mess because of tennis. He was so anxious. Finally, his wife said to him, “You don’t have to play.” That changed his life. Fish describes tennis as “brutal on your body and brutal on your mind.”
He writes about Naomi and other sports stars investing and being spokespersons for FTX in 2022, the cryptocurrency platform. It all came crashing down in November of 2022 when Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas for “massive, years-long fraud.” Naomi and 10 others were named in a class-action lawsuit.
As Serena and another female athlete, Allyson Felix, paved the way for maternity benefits for female athletes, and also protections in their sponsor income, Naomi paved the way for other athletes to avoid intimidation during press conferences. Aryna Sabalenka was grilled by a Ukrainian reporter after her 2nd round win. She answered each question with “No Comments.” She complained to the tournament officials. Rather than the treatment Naomi got, however, Aryna was allowed to continue competing and was allowed to have a PR person do one-on-one interviews only.
He also mentions Amanda Anisimova, who beat Naomi twice in 2022, deciding to take a mental health break from tennis, “It’s become unbearable at tennis tournaments.”
On the last page of the book, he quotes Naomi as saying she still had a “starving sensation” even though she was fabulously wealthy and living in luxury and so was her family. “Sometimes I wish my parents were rich so I don’t have to feel like I need to work for everyone’s survival.”
After she had Shai in July 2023, she was back working out 10 days later. The last lines of the book are Naomi’s tweet: “Well that was a cool little intermission…Now back to your regularly scheduled program…”
Excellent, excellent book!