Naomi Osaka’s battle to unmask racism to go on

“Well, what was the message that you got? (That) was more the question,” Osaka mentioned on court docket when requested on the trophy presentation ceremony what she needed to convey by carrying seven masks. “I feel like the point is to make people start talking.”

The world’s highest-paid feminine athlete, born in Japan and introduced up within the US, used her recognition all over the world and one of many greatest sporting phases to spotlight racial injustice. At the beginning of the event final week, Osaka spoke about her intention to put on seven completely different masks as she bid to succeed in the ultimate with every masks bearing the identify of a Black individual killed within the US resulting from racial injustice and police brutality.

Osaka walked out for her first-round match carrying a masks with the identify of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old girl shot lifeless in her condominium by police in Louisville in March, on it. Her subsequent 5 matches highlighted the names of Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd and Philando Castile, all killed resulting from related excesses. In the ultimate on Saturday, Osaka’s masks had the identify of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy shot by a white police officer in Cleveland whereas enjoying with a toy gun in a playground in 2014.

The masks have drawn the eye of individuals worldwide, particularly among the many hundreds of thousands of her followers on social media, whereas Osaka remained within the US Open bio-bubble. “For me, I feel like the more retweets it gets—that’s so lame—but the more people talk about it,” she mentioned.

Osaka’s activism round Black Lives Matter, which additionally discovered assist with the US Open organisers placing up banners of it on the principle courts, hasn’t been a distraction to her tennis. On the opposite, it drove her to meet her promise of exhibiting all of the seven masks by reaching the ultimate.

“It’s definitely helping her and giving her even more energy,” Wim Fissette, Osaka’s coach, was quoted as saying by the US Open web site. “It’s very important to have big personalities like Naomi to make a change, hopefully, one day. It’s a great thing that she does. For sure, with wearing the masks, she wants to be a role model, but she also knows it has to go together with the role model on court. It’s a good combination.”

It isn’t merely on the Grand Slam stage that Osaka has taken up the trigger. Just a few days earlier than the US Open, she pulled out of the Western & Southern Open semi-final to hitch the protests with different American sporting leagues after the capturing of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by police in Wisconsin. The event organisers had been compelled to place off all of the semi-finals by a day. Osaka gained her semi-finals however pulled out of the ultimate in opposition to Victoria Azarenka resulting from a hamstring harm.

Osaka mentioned within the press convention on Saturday that she needed to put on her masks even on the trophy presentation ceremony however “they said not to wear a mask”. She mentioned she would love to fulfill the households—some have despatched her appreciation messages—of the individuals whose tales she has highlighted.

“I feel like I learn more through experiences. Everyone sort of thinks they know; or I actually don’t want to know how they’re feeling or how they felt during the process. For me, I feel like sharing stories and hearing people’s experiences is very valuable.”