Two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka said that her “dream is coming true” as she returned to the semi-finals in New York with victory over Karolina Muchova. A major milestone for Osaka has been getting back to the last four of a major. She did not play for 14 months around the birth of daughter Shai in July 2023.
“It’s my first time in a semi now [since becoming a mother],” Osaka said, BBC reported. “I was sitting up there watching and hoping I could have the opportunity to play on this court again. This is like my dream is coming true.”
What we know about Naomi Osaka’s parents, sister, and ex-boyfriend
Osaka is of Japanese descent, her parents Leonard Francois and Tamaki Osaka having met in Japan when Francois was visiting in the 90s. At the time, Leonard was in college and Tamaki was just finishing high school. While Leonard was born in Haiti, Tamaki was born in Japan.
Talking about her combined heritage, Osaka said in 2018, “Japanese culture? I kind of love everything about it … And Haiti, if you’ve ever met a Haitian person, they are really positive, and literally if you’re friends with them, then they will do anything for you. That’s something that is a really good trait, and I’m really happy that my grandparents and my dad’s side of the family is like that.”
Osaka said in 2020, “As long as I can remember, people have struggled to define me. I’ve never really fit into one description — but people are so fast to give me a label. Is she Japanese? American? Haitian? Black? Asian? Well, I’m all of these things together at the same time.”
Osaka’s parents were influential in helping her play for Japan in the Olympics. In 2019, Osaka gave up her US citizenship to represent Japan at the 2021 Olympics. Her mother later said of the decision, “We made the decision that Naomi would represent Japan at an early age. She was born in Osaka and was brought up in a household of Japanese and Haitian culture. Quite simply, Naomi and her sister, Mari, have always felt Japanese, so that was our only rationale. It was never a financially motivated decision nor were we ever swayed either way by any national federation.”
Naomi also has an older sister, Mari. While Osaka was born in 1997, Mari was born in 1996. Mari was trained in tennis growing up, and went on to rank No. 280 in the world. She retired in 2021 due to injuries, and also because she wanted to focus on art and design. She is now a fashion designer, and even designed the outfit that Osaka wore to the Met Gala in 2021.
Osaka’s ex-boyfriend, Cordae, is Shai’s father. Cordae is an American rapper who was born in North Carolina, and is a Grammy-nominated artist who has collaborated with H.E.R. and Young Thug. The pair welcomed their daughter in July 2023. In January this year, Osaka shared on social media that the two of them had decided to split. She added that they would continue to raise Shai together.
