Naomi ‘preparing whole life’ to face idol
LONDON: Japanese teenager Naomi Osaka wasn’t even born when Venus Williams made her Wimbledon debut 20 years ago, but she believes her life has been building towards the moment they meet on a tennis court.
That time will come today when they clash for a place in the last16 at the All England Club.
“I kind of feel like I have been preparing for this my whole life,” said Naomi, whose infectious conversation style is punctuated with liberal doses of ‘like’, ‘kind of ’ and ‘stuff ’.
“I was supposed to play her in Auckland (in 2016 when Venus withdrew injured). So unfortunately that didn’t happen.
“But I was kind of, like, prepared then. So I feel like maybe that was leading up to this.
“I’m really humbled to be able to come here from watching her on the TV.”
Naomi, born in Japan to a Haitian father and Japanese mother, left her homeland when she was three, the family settling in New York.
She now lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
This year, the 59th-ranked Naomi is making her debut at Wimbledon.
In stark contrast, 37-year-old Venus first appeared at the All England Club in 1997 — four months before Naomi was even born.
Like many of her generation, however, the Williams sisters were an inspiration for Osaka, although she admits Serena, missing from Wimbledon this year, to give birth to her first child, is the bigger idol.
“I’m kind of more of a Serena person. I mean, I like super love Venus, too, but Serena was, like, my No 1,” said Naomi, who recalled supporting Serena when the American great had to scramble past Britain’s Heather Watson at Wimbledon two years ago.
“I was screaming at my TV, like, Come on, Serena, you can do it.
“I remember like when me and my sister used to train, like, at public courts and stuff, random people would be, like, Are you the next Venus and Serena? I feel like they had a great role in us growing up. I always wanted to be Serena.” AFP