Naomi Osaka set to make her tennis return at the Brisbane International

I'm speaking from a common Japanese perspective here BTW

Fortunately none of those arguments have any relevance to her being or not Japanese.

I wish her all the best as long as she plays tennis and not cry foul on US racism but keep tight lipped on the Japanese racism her mother credited for the reason the family moved to the US.

virusrexToday  04:05 pm JST

Has she ever provided the evidence she renounced her US citizenship?

"Why would she need to do that?"

She doesn't need to. She said she was renouncing her other citizenship and declaring her right to Japanese citizenship, as required at her age at the time, to compete in the Olympics for Japan.

The name of every American who renounces citizenship is listed by law in The Federal Register. It is public record, archived and available on the government website. If someone wanted to verify it, they can and will find that her name does not appear.

That's because she was not an American citizen. She renounced Haitian citizenship.

It isn't that hard to understand.

In her defense, she has never said she was an American citizen. She has always been a little cagey about it, but perhaps her marketing people and sponsors influenced that.

I don’t begrudge her at all for her tennis. Great player who worked hard to get there.

awomdeToday  01:56 pm JST

Has she ever provided the evidence she renounced her US citizenship?

No because she was never a US citizen. She lived in the US on a green card. The press jumped to that conclusion and they all parroted the same misinformation. She did not say she was renouncing US citizenship, she said she was renouncing her other citizenship. Osaka herself said in an interview that she was not “technically” an American. She was Haitian and Japanese, therefore she is still living in the US on Green card.

The press never admits when they get something wrong.

Yes it will be good to have Naomi back. The people of Haiti will also be supporting her after all that's where her father is from.

She will return overweight and mentally unprepared. She was a great player, top talent but her career is over. She returns to keep and in the hope to extend her sponsor contracts.

Absolutely.

Very astute words.

Funny you should mention that, Fighto, I am indeed a sports marketing expert with a company in Asia, 2 in Europe and one in the USA. And I worked in tennis and still do for a long time. Sponsorships, athlete management, Tv rights negotiations, merchandising..

She will return overweight and mentally unprepared. She was a great player, top talent but her career is over. She returns to keep and in the hope to extend her sponsor contracts.

Whatever you say, "expert".

She will return overweight and mentally unprepared. She was a great player, top talent but her career is over. She returns to keep and in the hope to extend her sponsor contracts.

William_Blake

She's not Japanese.

Why? Because she was raised in the US?

Do you also consider Olympic figure-skater Kristi Yamaguchi to not be Japanese?

What about actors Robert Ito, Pat Morita, or George Takei?

Are none of them Japanese? Or, are only the people born in Japan to two Japanese parents, and have always resided in Japan, qualify as Japanese to you?

Cheers to you, Naomi! Love to see you back!

*which is the most Slams among all active women's players in the world *

Um, did you forget about Iga Swiatek. She’s already got four Slam victories, and she’s only 22 years old!

And she won Slams on clay and hard courts, a claim Naomi cannot make.

ok and so what?

well, you took the time to enter the article and write a comment about it, that would mean it has at least that much importance even to you.

Has she ever provided the evidence she renounced her US citizenship?

Why would she need to do that?

SpeedToday 01:33 pm JST

Mentally she's always been weak.

Sportspeople aren't super-human, you know? She essentially started the conversation around mental health in sports, and a lot of people have spoken about their issues precisely because she spoke out first. This is a good thing for society, in my opinion.

History will remember Naomi Osaka well, no matter what people on the internet may say about her.

Don’t gloss over her record since her last Grand Slam victory in early 2021.

0 wins out of 18 tournament entries

Look up “has been” in the dictionary. You’ll see her photo.

Just keeping it real.

Mentally she's always been weak

Yeah - they just give out multiple Majors to mentally "weak" athletes eh?

Youd have no idea how mentally tough it would be to make it to the very top.

Welcome back! Naomi's fans will be happy to see her playing again - no one will expect miracles from the four-time Major champ though. It will be only 5 months since her first born arrived!

Mentally she's always been weak

Does she have the grit, the perseverance to succeed?

...they say, about the former world #1, and winner of not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 Grand Slam titles, which is the most Slams among all active women's players in the world (assuming the Williams sisters are essentially in retirement).

If Osaka never played another match, she'd already very comfortably qualify as a Hall of Famer. The last woman inducted into the Hall of Fame was Conchita Martinez, whose career peak ranking was #2, and who won 1 Grand Slam (and was a finalist of 2 others). The woman inducted before Martinez was Li Na, who peaked at #2, and won 2 Grand Slams (and was a finalist 2 more times).

Osaka is twice as accomplished as either of them, and she's only 26 years old.

You may not like her personality, and fair enough, but questioning her ability or accomplishments reveals a very limited knowledge of the sport.

Has she ever provided the evidence she renounced her US citizenship?

Ever hear her try to speak Japanese? In Japanese, she would not be able to say “I renounced my U.S. citizenship.”

Has she ever provided the evidence she renounced her US citizenship?

Welcome back, Naomi!

I hope you find a lot of success, and - far more importantly - enjoy your time on the tennis court.

Good luck to her and all but if she's still carry all that extra weight that she put on before her pregnancy, she's not going to get far.

Mentally she's always been weak. I hope she toughens up and gets back into winning shape.

She hasn’t competed on tour since an event in Tokyo in September 2022, shortly after she lost in the first round of the U.S. Open.

And she hasn’t won any tournament in almost three years.

Does she have the grit, the perseverance to succeed? She certainly didn’t demonstrate it in most of 2021 and all of 2022.

Great to see the most popular Japanese female sports star back and dominating.

Looking forward to having her back. She's a great player and contributor to the women's tour. Will likely be rusty after a long pregnancy term, but she'll find her way back to form eventually.