Naomi Osaka hopes to become an inspiration for young girls pursuing career in sports as she visits Play Academy in Tokyo
Follow Us
Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka, the four-time Grand Slam champion has been facing a lot of criticism for her lack of form and almost retiring from most of her matches citing injuries. She made a last-minute decision to withdraw from her Round of 16 match at the Japan Open stating that her body didn’t allow her to be on the court where she failed to defend her title. She has been upfront about mental health issues and has been battling with them for some time which sometimes affects her game.
Osaka visited the Play Academy in Tokyo and spent quality time with the young kids of the academy where she is one of the founding members along with Laureus and Nike which aims to help young girls. She even spoke about inspiring the students to pursue a career in sports as it changed her life for the good. The Japanese star even participated in a soccer game and even played some other fun recreational activities to create a good bond with all the girls.
She said “I have always felt at home whenever I come here. I always wanted to give back but never really knew how. And just seeing that there is a cause of concern with the decline of girls in sports, it was important for me to touch upon it. I’m really glad that we are able to do this. Hopefully, there are a bunch of kids who would look at me and think that what she is doing isn’t impossible and I can be there too.”
Naomi Osaka enjoyed spending time with the young girls at Play Academy in Tokyo
Osaka further said that “I did chair off the score a little, I’m not going to lie. But for me, it’s just having the opportunity to play beside them and see how excited they were to pass me the ball. I honestly don’t know how to play, so I was learning with them. I think that’s the joy of sports just to have fun as a community and learn and grow together.“
Osaka had missed playing during the grass court season due to her Achilles injury and is yet to make a strong comeback since she has faced early-round exits at most of the WTA tournaments. Her best performance at the season has been at the Miami Open where she reached the finals but lost to the eventual winner Iga Swiatek where she was handed a bagel set by the Pole. With such inconsistencies and absence from the Tour, she has dropped out of the Top 50 in the rankings.
Stay Updated!
Prateek Pradhan
(601 Articles Published)