Naomi Osaka is way more popular in the United States than a player from another country usually is. Part of the reason is that her father was an American resident and she has spent most of her life there.
In fact, she possessed dual citizenship of the USA and Japan until recently, which meant she had a choice of representing the USA. However, she gave up that option when she decided on representing Japan at the Olympic Games. This was bound to rub some of her American fans the wrong way. Despite that, she continued to achieve popularity in the US because of her impressive game.
Her title victory at the US Open, after defeating Serena Williams, was one big moment for her career. After this, Naomi was a guest at USA’s biggest talk show hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. That’s what felt like her true recognition in the eyes of the American public.
What did Naomi Osaka do at the Ellen DeGeneres show?
Naomi Osaka talked about a variety of interesting things on the show. Foremost among those was her incredible US Open final with Williams.
She talked about the unfortunate controversy that erupted after Serena lashed out at the chair umpire. It took a lot of attention away from her victory. Osaka said that she constantly ignored all the noise and turned away and focused on her game.
In fact, she was reading a note under her towel, preparing for what she would say in her speech after she won. This was because she was very timid about her public speaking skills. Naomi revealed her feelings when the crowd booed the ceremony after the match was over.
She said that Serena Williams actually came up to her and told that the crowd was not booing her and that she was proud of her. Another interesting segment of the show saw Ellen DeGeneres trying to set Osaka up with her celebrity crush and Black Panthers star, Michael B Jordan. This episode is a must-watch for all Naomi Osaka fans.
