The Japanese professional tennis player and World No. 3 Naomi Osaka recently answered some interesting Q&A’s on her Instagram account.
She revealed that besides tennis her favorite sport is basketball.
The three-time Grand Slam champion is apparently a hardcore fan of the NBA champion, Los Angeles Lakers fan. It was the franchise’s first win in almost a decade.
Osaka is the defending champion of the US Open and remains the only Japanese player to win a Major.
Her first title was against 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams at the US Open 2018, where she won 6-2, 6-4. She also claimed the next major at the Australian Open 2019 defeating Petra Kvitova 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.
“Kobe Bryant thought I was going to be great”: Osaka
During her 2020 US Open campaign, she repeatedly wore Kobe Bryant’s Laker jersey as a testimony of strength for herself. Later, she even posed wearing the same along with the winner’s trophy.
Kobe Bryant was a basketball legend who played for the Lakers and won five NBA Championships. He was and is considered one of the greatest of all-time athletes.
He lost his life alongside his daughter Gianna in a helicopter crash with seven others. Later in the press conference, Osaka said, “I just want to be the type of person that he thought I was going to be.
He thought I was going to be great, so hopefully, I will be great in the future.”
