TENNIS’S NEW SUPERSTAR
Women’s tennis has long been searching for a “new superstar”, said Mike Dickson in the Daily Mail. The sport has been dominated by Serena Williams for years; other players have won a Grand Slam, or topped the world rankings, only to fade from view. But Naomi Osaka’s victory in the Australian Open final last Saturday may have inaugurated a new era. In her three-set win over Petra Kvitová, the 21-yearold from Japan displayed the composure of a “true champion”. It made her the first woman since 2015 to win two consecutive Grand Slams – her previous victory came in the US Open, last September. Having risen to No. 1 in the world, she is now the first Asian player, of either sex, to top the rankings. Born in Japan, to a Japanese mother and a Haitian father, Osaka moved to the US when she was three, said Simon Cambers in The Observer. As recently as a year ago, she was only No. 53 in the world and hadn’t got beyond the fourth round of a major tournament. Since then, she has risen up the rankings with extraordinary speed. Her triumph at the US Open was marred by Williams’s outbursts against the umpire in the final; this victory was a much happier occasion. Against Kvitová, Osaka displayed “the hallmarks of her game”, said Stuart Fraser in The Times. She was aggressive in her powerful groundstroke – her forehand, which tops 100mph, is one of the fastest in women’s tennis. For all her assertiveness, Osaka is less confident off the court, said Simon Briggs in The Sunday Telegraph. She is, by her own admission, a woman of few words. But whether she likes it or not, she will now be thrust into the limelight. For the past decade, it was assumed that a “fit and firing” Williams was capable of winning any tournament she entered. But Osaka has “changed that logic”. She is now, without doubt, “the woman to beat”.