Naomi Osaka.Photo: Juergen Hasenkopf/BPI/REX/Shutterstock
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE,Naomi Osakadelved into what it felt like to play her childhood idol and how she and her family are coping with the drama surrounding her win.
To start, the Japanese athlete explained that, no, she wasn’t nervous playing Williams, 36, “because I played her once before. The reason why I would be nervous was because I’ve never played a finals before. Otherwise, when I stepped onto the court I felt completely fine. When I play, I feel like a different person so I felt pretty comfortable.”
Naomi Osaka.Clive Brunskill/Getty
Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams.Julio Cortez/AP/REX/Shutterstock
She also hasn’t seen Williams since the match: “I got whisked away as soon as the ceremony finished,” she said.
During the U.S. Open women’s final, Williams got in a verbal altercation with chair umpire Carlos Ramos, whom she called a “thief,” and she was later issued three violations, including one for breaking her racket. Critics called the punishment sexist, asserting that men regularly get angry on court without being penalized. Once the match concluded, Williams didn’t shake the umpire’s hand and she continued demanding an apology as the crowd roared with boos until the trophy ceremony,where the 23-time Grand Slam champion instructed, “No more booing!”
Above all, for Osaka, this period of her life is about planning for her next opportunity to win big, but she’s also thinking about what that could mean for aspiring athletes, especially biracial people, back home in Japan.
In the same interview with PEOPLE,Osaka revealed her playlist before Saturday’s big game. “I listened toNicki Minaj’snew album[Queen],” she said. She also shared that she commits to one musician before matches and only switches if she loses, adding “I’m genuinely more into hip-hop and rap.”
Osaka, who is currently based in Florida, is the youngest woman in the world’s Top 20 and Japan’s highest-ranked female player in more than a decade, a label she’s quite proud of.
“I hope people over [in Japan] are happy,” she said about her win. “That’s the main thing that I wish,” she said.
source: people.com
