It’s ironic that, of all the players over the first week of the French Open, the biggest winner was someone who lost in the second round.
Naomi Osaka exited the tournament just four days in but she departs Paris as the player who can take most from the opening week of tennis’ second grand slam of the year.
There are stars who play sport , and there are sporting superstars – and Osaka is unequivocally in the latter group.
It’s why her 15-month long sabbatical from tennis – between September 2022 and the start of 2024 – was such a loss.
The absence of Osaka caused a significant drop in the tour’s star power, and the deficit was keenly felt.
Women’s tennis, as it stands, is struggling to pull-in fans.
A sport that once boasted superstars like Serena and Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova is now sadly lacking individuals of their ilk.
For all the world-class tennis that the current big three of Iga Świątek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina can produce, they just don’t capture the public’s attention in the way some former players used to.
Which is why Osaka is such an asset for women’s tennis, and why it’s both a delight to see her finally back to looking like one of the best players in the world and a relief for a sport that needs an Osaka in its ranks.
The 26-year-old, who is of Japanese-Haitian origin but has spent most of her life in the United States, was identified early as a potential star of the game.
Her first big breakthrough came when she won her maiden grand slam with defeat of Serena Williams in the US Open final in 2018 but it wasn’t really Osaka’s tennis that marked her out as a superstar.
Yes, her four grand slam victories between 2018 and 2021 were eye-catching but it was her non tennis-related actions that made her really stand out.
Osaka, unusually for a top athlete, is not just willing to step into political issues, she is actively keen to.
She quickly began grabbing headlines as much for her activism as for her booming ground strokes.
In 2020, following the controversial shooting of Jacob Blake, which sparked numerous protests across America, Osaka took her first significant stance.
Following Blake’s shooting in Wisconsin, Osaka temporarily withdrew from the WTA Western & Southern Open in New York which was running at the same time, saying on social media: “As a black woman I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand that need immediate attention, rather than watching me play tennis.”
The tournament was then suspended with the sport “collectively taking a stance against racial inequality and social injustice that once again has been thrust to the forefront in the United States.”
Such actions had never been seen before in tennis, and were clearly sparked by Osaka’s brave stance.
Later that year, Osaka took to the court for each of her seven US Open matches wearing a different black face mask, each of which with the name of an African American who had been killed in recent years printed upon it in an attempt to draw attention to a cause that she clearly felt deeply about.
It cannot be understated how rare it is for an athlete to stick their head above the parapet in this way.
Much more common is for an athlete to refuse to engage with political issues at all for fear of damaging their earning potential.
Osaka is far more principled than this, though, which is why her return to tennis following the birth of her daughter last year – many were unsure if she would ever return – has been so heartening.
Despite losing to world number one Świątek in round two at Roland Garros earlier this week, Osaka looked back to her very best – she even held a match point against the Pole before being defeated.
The return of Osaka to the top of the game would be one of the best things that’s happened to women’s sport in the past decade.
To thrive, sport needs superstars, and Osaka has certainly earned the right to be called that.
There is no other player who brings more to a sport, on and off the court, than Osaka and it’s why, despite a second round defeat being a loss on paper, it’s most certainly a win for tennis.
AND ANOTHER THING…
If any more confirmation was needed of the dire straits the Commonwealth Games are in, it came this week with yet another missed deadline.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) had promised that a host for the 2026 Commonwealth Games would be confirmed by the end of May.
We reached the end of May on Friday and…. nothing.
In place of a host city announcement, there was only tumbleweed.
The absence of the planned announcement is surely a sign that negotiations to find someone, anyone, to host the 2026 edition are flailing.
The countdown clock for the Games in two years time is now ticking deafeningly loudly and if a host isn’t confirmed imminently, the likely outcome is surely the cancellation of the 2026 event and, potentially, the Commonwealth Games entirely.
Scotland has, of course, been touted as a potential venue for 2026 but the fact Glasgow wasn’t announced as the 2026 host before the end-of-May deadline means there’s something going on to delay awarding the Games here or elsewhere.
And so, whether a host for 2026 is scrambled or not, this entire saga does not bode well for the future of the event.
If it’s as much of a struggle as this to find a host for 2026, it hardly engenders confidence that the Commonwealth Games’ future looks rosy.
This, for so many fans of sport, is a sad, but not an unexpected, realisation.
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