Seven Masks, Seven Names and Seven Matches.

Naomi Osaka is a professional tennis player who has been ranked number one and recently won the US Open Tennis tournament for the last two years in a row! Osaka is the first Asian player to be ranked in singles. This year winning the US Open meant more to Osaka than any other tennis match and also opened up a huge discussion to the world. Osaka uses her platform to send the message that she stands for black lives. For each match, Osaka wore a face mask that had the names of the Black people who have been killed by racist violence in America. Those names include Breonna Taylor, Elijah Mclain, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, George Floyd, Ahmaud Abery and Trayvon Martin. Osaka made it clear that she wants to use her platform to ensure the fight for the Black lives movement and made it clear that it is more than just a statement. Her winning the championship and using her platform for positive change has been one of the best things that has happened this year.

Not only did Osaka bring awareness to the racist injustice happening in America, but Osaka also wore Kobe Bryant’s jersey everyday after her matches, which she said “I truly think it gave me strength.” Osaka is another young athlete with goals, dreams and ambitions to be the best she can be and admired Kobe and his Mamba mentality. Osaka states, “I just want to be the type of person that he thought I was going to be. He thought i was going to be great, so hopefully, I will be great in the future.”

Osaka's bravery, toughness, grit and passion for bringing some much positivity and awareness by using her platform through tennis and social media is truly admired. With her ability to use her COVID-19 face mask to make a huge statement without having to say a word, world-wide awareness to the social injustice that the United States is currently speaking about was brought to the forefront of the tennis community. As she tracks her way to her third US Open championship, she has the ability to continue to spread positive messages and statements to the world. Naomi Osaka’s activism brought positive awareness to police brutality, the Black Lives Matter movement, Kobe Bryant, women, youth and most of all, the sport of tennis.

Photo by Complex Sports

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