- Naomi Osaka eliminated Serena Williams on Thursday in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
- AT 23 years only, the young Japanese is aiming for a fourth grand slam title.
- In addition to being an accomplished player, she also uses her notoriety to defend causes that are dear to her, making her the new WTA circuit icon.
Seeing Serena Williams leaving the Rod Laver Arena press room in Melbourne in tears , Thursday, after having already taken the time to send hearts big like that to the Australian public at the end of their defeat in the half against Naomi Osaka , we felt like a kind of handover power between the two women. As if in her crocodile tears flowed both the emotion of a career that she feels approaching its twilight and the idea that it is time to pass the torch. Former pro Camille Pin validates our theory: “That’s it completely. It’s almost as if Serena waited until Osaka was mature to go! »
Because Thursday, in the semi-final between the idol on the decline and his fan number 1 who goes up, there was no photo. “As much as Serena has stepped on Sabalenka and Halep in the previous rounds, against Osaka she was no match,” continued the former player. A 23 years, Osaka is So progresses serenely towards her fourth grand slam final (she won her three previous ones) and with her, it is the entire tennis world that has a feeling that we have the new patron of the circuit there.
Osaka is coming for fill the void
“I commented on his match against Caro Garcia and I said to myself ‘ah yeah…’. You feel like it’s already a class above, there’s no picture, enthuses Sarah Pitkowski, consultant at RMC. She hits real hard, she takes the ball early, she moves well, she keeps her line well and serves a lot like Serena. It’s starting to do a lot! She just needs to progress on grass and clay, but it will come, I don’t worry about that. I find that she already combines all the assets that make a player can become a legend or not. »
And legends, it’s nothing to say that women’s tennis is sorely lacking today. A bit as if after Serena Williams the WTA had cast the mold. “I am happy, almost moved to see that we finally have a star who arrives to take over, rejoices Camille Pin. We hardly believed in it anymore, we said to ourselves “but it is not possible that there is not one that stands out” “.
“This is what tennis was lacking feminine for far too long, Pitkowski nods. Until now we have seen grand slam winners able to get hit in the first round of a tournament at 415. 000 dollars just behind. Until now everyone could beat everyone while with Osaka we feel that the story takes another turn. The Kerber generation, Halep, Pliskova, all those girls, plus those who managed to win a grand slam once, Andrescu, Ostapenko, they were ultimately just comets ”. But to shine and make its place alongside the boys, the women’s circuit needs characters who last, strong faces with whom we can identify.
In the listening after his victory in the half, we do not have much fear on this side. “When I was younger, about two years ago, the feeling, the goal was to make history by becoming the first Japanese person to win a grand slam,” she confided. It was my goal. Of course, it’s gratifying to see your name on a trophy, on a wall, but I think bigger than that now. “” She took the costume and she is tailoring it in her image, up to what she wants to be in the history of the sport. I think that today we fear it and that is a sign that goes in the direction of an imminent takeover ”, reflects Pitkowski.
A player committed off the courts
We have it fear and we listen to it. Because it is not only on the courts that the player imposes her style. Evidenced by this strong act in Cincinnati last September, when she refused to play her semifinal to protest against police violence in the United States after the death of George Floyd and gunfire on Jacob Blake, forcing tournament organizers to follow suit and postpone the meeting until the next day. At the US Open he was even seen entering the field with masks on behalf of African-American people who were victims of the same police violence. An activist commitment that sometimes earned her criticism in Japan, her native country that she left with her family at the age of three, where, as the daily Mainichi , we “continue to consider it a virtue for athletes to devote themselves solely to competition and not to interfere in political issues”
Snubbing at this lukewarmness demanded by some, Naomi Osaka spoke recently to turn on the president of the organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics (and former prime minister of Japan) Yoshiro Mori who declared on February 3 that women in boards of directors tended to open it up too much by “competitive spirit”. “We have seven women on the organizing committee, but they know how to stay in their place,” he concluded without anyone at the time finding anything to complain about. “This is the declaration of an ignorant person,” Osaka protested a few days later.
“I find that she really embodies something in the sense that she goes beyond the simple framework of the tennis world by its positions. When we say we have a boss, it also comes from there, notes Pitkowski. Today, to give visibility to this sport, the personality must also go beyond the rectangle. It has an iconic side, it represents something, its word weighs. »
« She is fresh in her communication, she is endearing, you feel that her speeches are not calculated, it is spontaneous, honest, engages Camille Pin. Sometimes those who want to position themselves, either it is not done wisely or it is for the image. It can be seen that she does not put herself forward by will but that she uses her notoriety to convey messages that are close to her heart. »Like any self-respecting icon.