“My team saved me!” Naomi Osaka opens up about isolation in tennis

Tennis is a sport that demands an unshakeable mental strength, without which a player’s physical abilities cannot be used to their advantage. It makes the sport worthy of playing. However, it could get really difficult to cope sometimes and that’s why it’s important to have some trustworthy people around during crucial times.

The highest-ranked Asian player and a 3 time Grand Slam champion from Japan, Naomi Osaka recently opened up about her situation during the US Open campaign.

Before starting off as a profession, Osaka only had her father beside her for as long as she can remember. In the process of carving her own niche, the Asian roped in her agent, coach, fitness trainer, and a physio that formed her core team to travel on tours.

During her US Open campaign, the Japanese only had her team by her side whom she strongly relied on. In a conversation with the ‘Young CEO experience‘, Naomi spoke about team members, isolation, and other aspects of her life.

”In New York, we were very isolated and we had a lot of long talks with each other, and I was staying in a house there so I would just find the company in my team and they sort of saved me in that sense”, Osaka said.

“Because tennis is really isolating and you don’t really have team members to lean on or teammates, because every other player out there is sort of your enemy so I would definitely say it’s really important to find people that you trust,” she added.