Naomi Osaka Parents: Naomi Osaka is the talk of the tennis world. Besides being a tennis prodigy and two-time Grand Slam champion, Osaka will be remembered for her critical and courageous message on Black Lives Matter and racial justice at the 2020 U.S. Open.
Osaka has been playing while wearing masks commemorating Black murder victims like Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor. The link opens in a new window. The name Naomi may be unfamiliar to you if tennis isn’t your thing, but trust me: she’s badass. Her father instilled in her the drive to become a tennis great, and she eventually bested Serena Williams at the U.S. Open in 2018.
Although she has only recently begun publicly supporting such causes, she has said, “I feel like I’m a vessel to spread awareness” of her recent mask-wearing. What do we know, then, about her essential and powerful parents?
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Who Are Naomi Osaka Parents?
Her parents, Leonard Francois and Tamaki Osaka had another child before having Naomi. They have two daughters and recently moved to Beverly Hills from the United States. Haiti, a Caribbean country, is Father Leonard Francois’s homeland. As a Japanese mother, Tamaki Osaka is also a published author.
They had both daughters in Japan, where they lived their entire childhoods, before moving to the United States. Osaka is incredibly fortunate to have her parents as supporters because they are her most considerable cheering section.
Naomi Osaka renounced her American citizenship at her parents’ urging so that she could represent Japan in professional tennis. Later, she garnered support from a small number of individuals across the nation. Her loving parents restrained her even after she lost the 2021 summer Olympics. Honestly, she has a rock-solid foundation in her family.
Happy Mother’s Day ❤️ pic.twitter.com/0ishV3tbtl
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) May 9, 2021
Who Is Naomi Osaka’s Mother, Tamaki Osaka?
Naomi’s mother, Tamaki, is from Nemuro, a coastal town on the eastern tip of Hokkaido, Japan’s northern island. Tamaki attended high school in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido. Tamaki’s first encounter with Francois was in high school.
Tamaki’s parents disapproved of her relationship with Francois, leading to their estrangement, partly because of the sense of isolationism in Japan, which dates back to the 1630s, when the Tokugawa shogunate cut off the archipelago from the rest of the world (The New York Times).
Tamaki’s daughters Naomi and Mari didn’t meet their grandparents until she had been estranged from them for nearly 15 years. When Naomi and her sister were 11, they visited Japan to visit their grandparents.
According to The New York Times, Tamaki’s family took an interest in the sisters. Still, they later criticized him for homeschooling them and training them in tennis, which they saw as a hobby, not a profession. Naomi and Osaka adopted Tamaki as their family name to share an address and other administrative duties.
However, that was less of a concern after the sisters, and their parents emigrated to the United States when they were young. According to The New York Times, on international days at school, Tamaki would dress Naomi and Mari in kimonos and speak to them in Japanese. She would also make their seaweed and rice ball snacks.
In an interview with Good Morning America this year, Naomi discussed her mother’s advice in preparation for the Australian Open. “She yelled at me to go to sleep because she was mad at me,” she explained. “Yeah, that’s what she valued the most,” I said.
Who Is Naomi Osaka’s’ Father, Leonard Francois?
Francois, Naomi’s dad, is from a town in Haiti called Jacmel. On a trip to Hokkaido, the then-New York City student met Tamaki. During the 1999 French Open, when Naomi and Mari were still young children, Francois watched a tournament broadcast and saw Venus and Serena Williams, then aged 18 and 17, win the doubles title.
Francois was inspired to turn out champion despite his lack of tennis skills because he looked up to Richard Williams, the father of Serena and Venus Williams. ‘ Francois told The New York Times, ‘ the blueprint was already there. I was forced to “go with the flow.”
After moving to Long Island, where there were more gyms and free public tennis courts, Naomi began training at three. As Francois made his daughters hit thousands of balls while in New York, he also read instructional books and watched DVDs. N o, I don’t think I ever liked hitting the ball, Naomi told the New York Times.
“All I wanted to do was beat up my sister,” she said. It took Naomi 12 years, she told The New York Times, to finally prevail over her older sister. An injury has derailed Mari’s tennis career, and she is currently ranked 350th in the world.
Naomi grew up surrounded by the aroma of Haitian creole and spicy Haitian stews, although neither of Francois’ parents spoke English. She told the New York Times, “I grew up surrounded by Haitian and Japanese culture.”
