Despite her first-round loss at the 2024 Australian Open, four-time Grand Slam singles champion Naomi Osaka highlighted the positive aspects of her return to professional tennis after a 15-month hiatus. A former champ returns: Osaka, who won the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021, returned to the Grand Slam stage on Jan. 15, just six months after she gave birth to her daughter, Shai, in July 2023. The 26-year-old athlete lost 6-4, 7-6 (2) to 16th-seeded Caroline Garcia in a close match at the prestigious Rod Laver Arena, reported the Associated Press.
i m thinking of marcus rashford. yeah. ..the england footballer. i m thinking of naomi osaka, the haitian japanese tennis player, whom, actually, you spoke to in your book. and she is determined to use her platform, interestingly, in ways that you, as we ve discussed, never did as a young professional athlete. do you admire them? i admire them greatly. and as i said in the book, i could not have done what naomi osaka is doing now. but i am totally convinced that the pressures that she s feeling now is because she has been so vocal, because obviously she looks at social media, she gets all this feedback. i am absolutely sure it s affecting her. i m hoping that she can get over it and get back to playing her fantastic tennis. but any sportsperson anybody, stephen, whether they are a sportsperson or not that you have a platform,
of what they say to heart. i m sorry that they d have that sort of response and they have that sort of thinking, because they are the policy makers and they are very important people in any society. but, to be honest, i cannot be shocked by anything that they say. what do you make of the young sportspeople who speak out very clear and very loud right now against what they see as persistent racism in society and in sport, and also use their platform to deliver social messages? i m thinking of marcus rashford. yeah. ..the england footballer. i m thinking of naomi osaka, the haitian japanese tennis player, whom, actually, you spoke to in your book. and she is determined to use her platform, interestingly, in ways that you, as we ve discussed, never did as a young professional athlete. do you admire them?