Japan's New Female Tennis Hopeful : Naomi Osaka

Kei Nishikori is Japan's top male tennis player doing fabulous work in the world's major tennis tournaments. Now, we have his equivalent in women's tennis in the person of Naomi Osaka, an 18-year-old Haiti-American with Japanese nationality. Her father is a Haiti-American and her mother a Japanese.

Naomi Osaka, currently placed 127th in the world ranking, had battled her way in the current Australian Open through the eliminations and won the 1st and 2nd rounds and bowed only to a top-ranking counterpart in the 3d round. It was her first entry in the four major tournaments. The first half of this year's Australian Open was highlighted by Naomi's impressive performance with her power serve that helped her advance that high up

On January 19, Naomi Osaka downed Donna Vekic of Croatia in the 1st round 6-3, 6-2 and on January 21 shoved over Elina Svitolina of Ukraine ranking 21st by 6-4, 6-4. She met Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the 3rd round and played a brilliant tennis against the Australian champion in 2012-13 and bowed.

The most astounding was her serve which clocked 195 km in the 1st round. The WTA data show that two 9th world ranking players marked 197.9 km last year. In other words Naomi is already in the world ranking in the speed of her serve.

Tall and slender, 180 centimeters, Naomi Osaka combines power and placement, constantly taking care not to make careless errors. Victoria Azarenka said she was surprised by the way Naomi mixed hard hits with delicate shots. "It took me some time to get used to her", commented Azarenka.

Born in Osaka, Naomi learned how to play tennis at three with her sister. Her family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Miami, when she was four. That's the hometown of the tennis legend Chris Evert.

Later at age 18, 2014, Naomi Osaka made history by beating the 2011 US Champion Samantha Stosur of Australia in Stanford. Serena Williams watched her play and earmarked her a "young, aggressive, dangerous player". Naomi, by the way, idolizes  Serena.

Let us see which way the ball bounces. Japan might have a powerful hand to play in Rio.

News Source: Nikkei