Naomi Osaka’s return to action highlights tennis

As it was, Naomi Osaka would have been one of the mostwatched, most-discussed, most-supported athletes at the Tokyo Olympics.

She’s the highest-earning female athlete in the world, a tennis superstar and represents Japan, making her a strong medal contender for the host country.

Then, of course, came the series of events that began unfolding about two months before the July start of the Summer Games.

She sat out Wimbledon, too. So the Tokyo Games mark her return to competition — and it’s an occasion that matters to Osaka, who was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Haitian father.