Tag: Osaka

  • 4-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka declares being pregnant, plans to return at Australian Open 2024

    The four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka on Wednesday introduced that she is pregnant together with her first youngster. The Japanese star stated that she’s going to return to tennis on the Australian Open 2024.

    New Delhi ,UPDATED: Jan 11, 2023 23:36 IST

    Naomi Osaka declares being pregnant, reveals when will she return to tennis. (AP/PTI Photo)

    By India Today Web Desk: Former world primary Naomi Osaka on Wednesday introduced that she is pregnant together with her first youngster and handled her followers with an image of an ultrasound.

    The four-time Grand Slam champion took to Twitter to pen a heartfelt observe in each England and Japanese, saying: “Can’t wait to get back on the court, but here’s a little life update for 2023.”

    Initially, no official motive was given by the Australian Open when the match introduced that Osaka had withdrawn from the 2023 season’s first main.

    The 25-year-old Osaka, in a observe, stated: “The past few years have been interesting to say the least, but I find that its the most challenging times in life that may be the most fun. These few months away from the sport has really given me a new love and appreciation for the game I’ve dedicated my life to.

    “I realise that life is so brief and I do not take any second as a right, on a regular basis is a brand new blessing and journey. I do know that I’ve a lot to look ahead to sooner or later. One factor I’m trying ahead to is for my child to observe a few of my matches and inform somebody, ‘That’s my mother,’ haha.

    “2023 will be a year that’ll be full of lessons for me, and I hope I’ll see you guys at the start of the next one ’cause I’ll be at Aus 2024. Love you all infinitely.

    “Sidenote: I do not suppose there is a completely appropriate path to absorb life however I all the time felt that for those who transfer ahead with good intentions you will discover your method finally,” Osaka concluded.

    Published On:

    Jan 11, 2023

  • 4-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka pulls out of Australian Open 2023

    Australian Open 2023: Naomi Osaka hasn’t performed any aggressive match since September and is at present the No.42 participant within the WTA Rankings.

    New Delhi,UPDATED: Jan 8, 2023 15:26 IST

    Naomi Osaka pulls out of Australian Open 2023. Courtesy: PTI

    By India Today Web Desk: Japan’s Naomi Osaka received’t be part of the Australian Open 2023 after she determined to drag out of the upcoming hard-court match. Osaka is at present the No.42 participant within the WTA rankings and hasn’t performed a single aggressive match since September, when she opted out of a match in Tokyo with belly ache.

    22-year-old Dayana Yastremska, who just lately performed within the Adelaide International Qualifiers, has been roped into the primary draw as a alternative for Osaka. Ukraine’s Yastremska, who attained a career-high rating of 21, has three WTA tour titles to her title.

    “Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the Australian Open. We will miss her at #AO2023. Dayana Yastremska moves into the main draw,” the Australian Open wrote on Twitter.

    As far as Osaka is worried, final September in the course of the Pan Pacific Open, she talked concerning the ups and downs in her profession.

    “This year has been not the best year for me but I’ve learned a lot about myself. Life has ups and downs, and this year was more down than up, but overall I’m pretty happy with where I am now,” Osaka had mentioned.

    Osaka has received 4 Grand Slams in her profession and received the Australian Open twice, in 2019 and 2021. In the earlier version of the match, she progressed to the third spherical earlier than dropping to Amanda Anisimova 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5). Earlier, she additionally talked about her struggles with psychological well being.

    The upcoming Australian Open additionally received’t have Venus Williams and World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz. Williams sustained an damage in the course of the ASB Classic in Auckland final week whereas Alcaraz, the youngest top-ranked participant, will miss out on account of a leg damage.

    Edited By:

    sabyasachi chowdhury

    Published On:

    Jan 8, 2023

  • She broke Japan’s comedic barrier taking part in drunks and fools (Yep, males)

    Onstage, Niyo Katsura wore a fragile pink kimono. With her petite body and high-pitched voice, she might move extra simply for a school undergraduate than a 35-year-old performer of one among Japan’s oldest comedic arts.
    Yet when she reached the purpose in her routine the place she impersonated a drunken salesman — a middle-age man — the viewers laughed heartily because the character slurred his phrases and stabbed himself within the arm in a raucously unsuccessful effort to indicate off the medicinal properties of a mysterious oil.
    Katsura’s uncanny capacity to painting a spread of drunks and fools, lots of them males, has introduced her acclaim in rakugo, a classical type of Japanese comedic storytelling. Last month, she grew to become the primary girl to win a prestigious prize for rakugo newcomers within the award’s 50-year historical past.
    After taking the trophy, Katsura proclaimed, “Do you see me now, old men?”
    Over the almost three-century existence of rakugo, the slapstick cousin of Japanese stage arts like Kabuki and noh, most of its performers have been males who painting a number of characters of each genders. Since girls entered the occupation simply over 40 years in the past, they’ve confronted resistance from fellow artists, critics and audiences. Women signify simply 1 in 16 of the near 1,000 rakugo artists now working professionally.
    Katsura’s victory was a milestone not solely due to her gender, but additionally as a result of she carried out a conventional story that includes all-male characters. Some earlier feminine performers, in an effort to woo audiences unsettled by girls appearing as males, transformed male protagonists in classical tales into girls.
    Niyo Katsura performs rakugo, a classical type of storytelling, in Osaka. (Shiho Fukada/The New York Times)
    But Katsura was decided to inform the previous tales the best way they have been initially conceived. “I wanted to perform rakugo the exact same way that men do,” stated Katsura, who acquired an ideal rating from all 5 judges on the competitors panel, sponsored by NHK, the general public broadcaster. “I feel that history has been changed.”
    Rakugo is an oral custom through which tales — about 600 of that are in circulation amongst performers as we speak — are handed down by masters to apprentices. The artwork kind has strict guidelines: Performers stay seated on a cushion within the middle of a largely naked stage, and so they use only a few props, akin to a folding fan or a cotton hand towel.
    Stories vary from about 10-Half-hour and have dozens of characters, all of whom are conveyed by modifications in facial features, voice and actions of the physique above the waist.
    “I have never seen anything as good as her version of the story she performed,” stated Kenichi Horii, a cultural critic who watched Katsura’s prizewinning act. “For the audience, you just want it to be fun. You don’t necessarily care if the performer is male or female.”
    Growing up in Osaka, Katsura — who was born Fumi Nishii and makes use of a stage identify — was raised by mother and father who weren’t legally married, which is uncommon in Japan. The family was much less inflexible about gender roles than extra conventional households.
    Niyo Katsura backstage after her first set whereas performing rakugo, a classical type of storytelling. (Shiho Fukada/The New York Times)
    “My mother always said it does not make sense for us to say ‘because you are a boy’ or ‘because you are a girl,’” she stated.
    While finding out Buddhist artwork in school in Kyoto, she attended stay rakugo performances. Her favourite characters reminded her of sophistication clowns whom lecturers punished. “I thought, these people are saying foolish things and people are openly laughing at them,” she stated. “I was very drawn to that.”
    She might see it was powerful for ladies onstage. When a girl carried out, “the audience wouldn’t laugh.” She learn a ebook by a well known rakugo artist who wrote that girls made audiences “uncomfortable.”
    After graduating, she sought out a mentor prepared to take her on for coaching. The first time she stood outdoors the dressing room door of Yoneji Katsura, a seasoned rakugo practitioner in Osaka, Japan’s comedic capital, he instructed her he wouldn’t settle for any girls as apprentices. The second time she requested, he refused once more.
    “I could not believe that such a strange girl wanted to be my apprentice,” recalled Yoneji Katsura, 64. “I had no confidence that I could raise a female apprentice.”
    He recalled seeing her usually at his performances, usually sitting within the entrance row. He stated he even heard a voice from above, urging him to take an opportunity on her. The third time she got here knocking, the veteran performer agreed to let her observe his different apprentices observe.
    For about six months, whereas working half time at a grocery store, she visited Yoneji Katsura’s house and sat in on rehearsals. In 2011, Yoneji Katsura formally accepted her right into a three-year apprenticeship and gave her the stage identify “Niyo,” which suggests two leaves. She additionally took on the household identify that he had inherited from his mentor.
    But regardless that he recognises her presents, Yoneji Katsura is just not sure girls actually belong within the rakugo world. “The basis of rakugo is that it is an art form that men should perform,” he stated.
    To Niyo Katsura, it’s only logical that “if men can perform women, then women should be able to perform men.” Over time, she adopted a signature gender-neutral bowl haircut that followers name “the mushroom.” Yet she by no means resorts to decreasing her voice to play males or utilizing different strategies she believes would strike a false be aware.
    The 12 months earlier than Niyo Katsura gained the NHK competitors, she was a finalist. One choose instructed her she wanted extra life expertise to present texture to her efficiency.
    Over the summer time, Katsura contracted the coronavirus. She was frightened however puzzled if it’d someway deepen her artwork. “Maybe this is a bad thing to say, but I thought, maybe I am one step closer to being a good rakugo performer because I am experiencing this feeling that I never had before,” she stated.
    After her successful efficiency final month, Gontaro Yanagiya, the choose who had given her the harshest suggestions, stated he cried with pleasure to see Katsura’s progress. “It was like she came back just to shove that performance in my face,” Yanagiya stated.
    Katsura acknowledged that she had reached the heights she had due to the ladies who got here earlier than her.
    Tsuyu no Miyako, 65, who’s broadly acknowledged as the primary girl to achieve fashionable rakugo, recalled how male colleagues would inform vulgar tales about girls or slap her on the buttocks. She stated she realized to slap again, however largely needed to settle for the remedy.
    “I just thought that was the world I signed up for,” Tsuyu stated.
    Onstage in Osaka earlier this month, Katsura instructed two tales, together with a 30-minute classical story a couple of father who orders one among his craftsmen to seek for a potential romantic curiosity for his lovesick son.
    In Katsura’s hand, a folded fan grew to become a sword, a pair of chopsticks and an extended smoking pipe. With a roll of her shoulders, she evoked the slouching stroll of a person, and with a stroke of her chin, she evinced a beard.
    At one level, Katsura invited a veteran male artist, Hanamaru Hayashiya, 56, to hitch her onstage. She instructed him that sure widespread phrases in conventional rakugo tales now sounded sexist. The phrase usually used for spouse, “yomehan,” for instance, combines the Chinese characters for “woman” and “house.”
    “I don’t think these words fit the world we are living in now,” Katsura stated.
    “Words are very difficult,” Hayashiya stated. “I guess this shows that rakugo is a man’s world.”
    In the dressing room after the present, Katsura folded her kimonos and mirrored briefly on her efficiency.
    “They were a good audience,” Katsura stated. “They laughed.”
    This article initially appeared in The New York Times.

  • Naomi Osaka earns assist after asserting break from sport at US Open

    Retired athletes voiced their assist for four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka on Saturday after she stated she would take a break from tennis having misplaced her enthusiasm for competitors.
    The world quantity three suffered a shocking defeat within the third spherical of the U.S. Open on Friday earlier than tearfully telling reporters she deliberate to take an indefinite break from the game.

    Naomi Osaka says “I honestly don’t know when I’m gonna play my next tennis match” after her third-round loss on the #USOpen:
    “I think I’m gonna take a break from playing for a while,” she added by tears.
    Hard to observe. I hope everybody can present some compassion. pic.twitter.com/TsXmiWwzEQ
    — Meredith Cash (@mercash22) September 4, 2021
    “I feel like for me recently, like, when I win I don’t feel happy. I feel more like a relief,” stated Osaka, months after publicly disclosing that she had suffered from melancholy.
    “Take all the time you need to recover, rest, and heal, @naomiosaka,” 12-time Grand Slam singles champion Billie Jean King wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “Sending you love and support.”

    Take on a regular basis it’s essential to recuperate, relaxation, and heal, @naomiosaka.
    Sending you like and assist.
    — Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) September 4, 2021
    Retired American tennis professional James Blake applauded her resolution. “Please do what is best for you @naomiosaka,” he tweeted on Saturday. “We want to see your extraordinary tennis again, but more importantly, we want to see you happy.”
    Six-time Grand Slam winner Boris Becker responded to Blake in a quote retweet: “That’s right.”

    That’s proper https://t.co/j7E6KoJA3h
    — Boris Becker (@TheBorisBecker) September 4, 2021
    The 23-year-old has ushered in a brand new dialog round psychological well being in skilled sport after she dropped out of the French Open amid a public row over obligatory press conferences on the Grand Slam, saying they took too nice a toll on her psychological wellbeing.
    Osaka’s affect extends far past the court docket, as she introduced the Black Lives Matter protest to tennis’ worldwide platform a yr in the past, changing into a number one determine for athlete advocacy within the course of.
    “Good decision. Young, trying to figure out life, how to win consistently, and as a huge celebrity athlete is hard! Trying to also be a change maker too. Exponentially harder!” four-time Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter Michael Johnson wrote on Twitter.
    “If there was ever a need for an athlete to step away, this is it.”

  • Billie Jean King lauds Naomi Osaka for psychological well being stand

    Tennis nice Billie Jean King has praised Naomi Osaka for talking out on psychological well being points and her stand towards racial injustice.
    Japan’s Osaka withdrew from this yr’s French Open after being fined and threatened with expulsion for refusing to do media duties, which she mentioned had contributed to the despair points she had struggled with for years.
    The 23-year-old, a four-times Grand Slam champion, additionally pulled out of Wimbledon, resulting in a broader dialog about psychological well being in sport.
    Osaka was joined by King, mercurial Australian Nick Kyrgios and former American participant Mardy Fish for a dialogue hosted by Racquet Magazine on the eve of the U.S. Open.
    “Everyone loves you guys. They listen to you guys, and I think it’s great when you talk and talk about your feelings. Kids need that,” King, a number one determine within the marketing campaign for gender equality in tennis, advised Osaka.
    “When I used to be outed in ’81 for being homosexual, I misplaced all the pieces in 24 hours. You guys can speak about this stuff and also you’re celebrated. Other individuals have the identical points. But we couldn’t speak about it the best way you get to.
    “Every time I go to any place now I have to talk about mental health. Why? Because you guys talked about it. That’s fantastic progress.”
    The 77-year-old has up to now likened Osaka’s off-court stance to that of the Original Nine, a bunch of gamers led by King who fought tirelessly to begin knowledgeable ladies’s tennis tour, which led to the creation of the WTA in 1973.
    Osaka was lauded for supporting the “Black Lives Matter” marketing campaign as she highlighted racial injustice by carrying completely different face masks at her 2020 U.S. Open matches bearing the names of African Americans who died lately.
    “After my first Slam, I was supposed to be the good girl,” Osaka mentioned. “But now that I’m talking about stuff that bothers me, I think it’s confusing a lot of people. I honestly don’t know what people think about me.”
    In a social media submit on Sunday, Osaka mentioned she intends to have fun her personal achievements extra and won’t fear concerning the expectations others place on her as she prepares to start her U.S. Open title defence.Kyrgios, who has been punished by authorities for his on-court behaviour, mentioned he didn’t really feel the media cared about gamers’ well-being.
    But King, who received 12 Grand Slam singles titles, mentioned the game’s finiancial power wouldn’t have been potential with out the assist of the press.
    “In our generation we played for $14 a day and we played for more than ourselves,” she mentioned.”We solely had the standard media. So if we don’t get them to inform our story then we wouldn’t have what we’ve in the present day.”

  • Naomi Osaka to play at US Open, ‘Big Three’ lead males’s area

    Naomi Osaka will defend her title on the U.S. Open, organisers mentioned on Wednesday, after she withdrew from this 12 months’s French Open and Wimbledon on psychological well being grounds.
    Japan’s Osaka surprised the tennis world when she stop the claycourt main in Paris in May following her first-round match after being fined and threatened with disqualification when she refused to attend obligatory post-match press conferences.
    The world quantity two, who mentioned she had social nervousness, additionally skipped Wimbledon however is scheduled to play on the Tokyo Olympics after which in Montreal subsequent month.
    Osaka will likely be a part of a ladies’s area on the U.S. Open that may even embrace world primary Ash Barty, who lifted her second main title at Wimbledon earlier this month.
    A complete of 15 main winners, together with Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza, are scheduled to characteristic within the ladies’s area at Flushing Meadows.
    In the boys’s part, former champions Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal — at the moment tied for the boys’s document of 20 Grand Slam singles titles — will resume their quest for extra silverware in New York.
    World primary Djokovic, contemporary from his third main triumph of 2020 at Wimbledon, is aiming to turn out to be the primary man since Australia’s Rod Laver in 1969 to finish a calendar 12 months sweep.
    Another former champion, Andy Murray, who’s at the moment ranked 104, did not make the principle draw however stays the primary participant on the alternate record.
    The U.S. Open will likely be held with 100% fan capability from Aug. 30 to Sept. 12.

  • Naomi Osaka withdraws from pre-Wimbledon occasion in Berlin

    Naomi Osaka pulled out of subsequent week’s Berlin WTA 5000 grasscourt event on Monday, elevating doubts in regards to the four-times Grand Slam champion’s participation at Wimbledon later this month.
    The choice comes after Japanese world quantity two Osaka pulled out of the French Open final week on psychological well being grounds.
    “We have received notification Naomi Osaka cannot start in Berlin. After consulting her management, she will take a break,” Berlin occasion organisers mentioned in an announcement forward of the event which begins on June 14.
    Osaka has not revealed when she plans to play subsequent, casting doubt on her participation at Wimbledon, which begins on June 28, and the Tokyo Olympics subsequent month.
    The 23-year-old launched a brief social media assertion on Saturday to thank her followers for his or her help over her choice to withdraw from the French Open following a dispute over her refusal to attend press conferences.

  • Ankle harm at press convention ends Petra Kvitova’s French Open

    Petra Kvitova has withdrawn from the French Open after injuring her ankle in a freak fall whereas performing her post-match media duties on Sunday, the eleventh seeded Czech participant mentioned in a press release.
    Two-times Wimbledon champion Kvitova, who reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in 2020 and 2012, beat Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen 6-7(3) 7-6(5) 6-1 in her opening match of the match and damage her ankle shortly afterwards.
    Kvitova is the second high-profile participant to tug out of Roland Garros, and her withdrawal follows the exit of second seed Naomi Osaka, who withdrew on Monday citing psychological well being points, having earlier mentioned she would boycott her media duties.
    “It is with great disappointment that I announce my withdrawal from Roland Garros,” the 31-year-old Kvitova mentioned on Twitter on Tuesday. “During my post-match press necessities on Sunday I fell and damage my ankle.
    “Unfortunately after an MRI and much discussion with my team, I have made the tough decision that it would be unwise to play on it. It’s incredibly bad luck, but I will stay strong and do my best to recover in time for the grasscourt season.”

    😔 pic.twitter.com/Oj8P1lmCjT
    — Petra Kvitova (@Petra_Kvitova) June 1, 2021
    Kvitova was attributable to tackle unseeded Russian Elena Vesnina within the second spherical.

  • Serena Williams affords help to Naomi Osaka after French Open withdrawal

    Serena Williams provided her help to Naomi Osaka on Monday (May 31) after the Japanese participant’s resolution to withdraw from the French Open within the wake of her boycott of press conferences.
    In an announcement on Monday, Osaka mentioned she didn’t need her stance to turn into a distraction and mentioned that she had been coping with psychological well being points since 2018.
    Williams, 39, was inevitably requested for her response to Osaka’s resolution following her first-round win over Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu. “Honestly I just found out before I walked into the press conference, so that’s the extent of it right now for me,” Williams advised reporters.
    Pushed for her opinion on Osaka’s declare final week that post-match media conferences had been damaging her psychological wellbeing, and Monday’s sudden improvement, Williams mentioned: “The solely factor I really feel is that I really feel for Naomi. I really feel like I want I might give her a hug as a result of I do know what it’s like. Like I mentioned, I’ve been in these positions. We have completely different personalities, and persons are completely different. Not everybody is identical. I’m thick (skinned). Other persons are skinny. Everyone is completely different and everybody handles issues otherwise.
    “You just have to let her handle it the way she wants to, in the best way she thinks she can, and that`s the only thing I can say. I think she`s doing the best that she can.”
    Williams mentioned it was necessary for gamers to have somebody to make use of as a ‘sounding board’ in powerful occasions. “You have to be able to make an effort and say, I need help with A, B, C, and D, and talk to someone,” she mentioned.
    “Whether it`s someone at the WTA or whether it’s someone in your life. Maybe it’s someone that you just talk to on a weekly basis. I’ve been in that position, too. I’ve definitely had opportunities to talk to people, kind of get things off my chest that I can`t necessarily talk to anyone in my family or anyone that I know.”

    Survives scare in first night time match at Roland Garros
    Serena Williams survived a scare within the first ever night time session match on the French Open as she edged out Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 7-6 (6), 6-2 within the first spherical on Monday.
    Organisers have launched night time matches beneath the Philippe Chatrier Court lights this yr to supply some late drama for the followers however the match was performed in an empty stadium due to a COVID-19 curfew within the French capital.
    The flat ambiance hardly helped the 39-year-old Williams who squandered a 5-2 lead within the first set towards a tough opponent who battled again to maneuver right into a tiebreaker.
    Begu then led 6-4 and Williams obtained fortunate with a return that clipped the tape, earlier than rattling off 4 factors to win the opener with a drive volley she celebrated with a roar that echoed across the empty stands.

    Undefeated in RG night time periods 😄#RolandGarros | @serenawilliams pic.twitter.com/XmIozU0pEO
    — Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2021
    Three-time Roland Garros champion Williams, who has been caught on 23 Grand Slam titles, one behind Margaret Court`s all-time report, was way more assured within the second set and managed to say the victory with out additional fuss.
    Williams has been agonisingly near matching Court’s report since successful the 2017 Australian Open in her final Grand Slam occasion earlier than changing into a mom. She has fallen in 4 Grand Slam finals and earlier this yr misplaced within the semi-finals on the Australian Open.

  • Naomi Osaka withdraws from French Open after expulsion menace over media boycott

    Japan’s Naomi Osaka introduced on Monday she was withdrawing from the French Open after sticking to her choice to boycott post-match press conferences on the ongoing Grand Slam event.
    Osaka, who’s a four-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1-ranked participant, had declared she wouldn’t communicate to the media throughout Roland Garros and was fined $15,000 by Grand Slam organisers for failing to attend her media duties following her first-round win.
    The 23-year-old made the announcement on Twitter. “I think now the best thing for the tournament, other players and my wellbeing is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focussing on the tennis.”
    “This isn’t a situation I ever imagined or intended when I posted a few days ago,” the 23-year-old Osaka stated on Twitter. “I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris. I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer.”
    Osaka, one of many largest title’s in girls’s sport, went on to say she had suffered from melancholy since 2018. “The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the U.S. Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that,” she stated.
    “Anyone that knows me knows I’m introverted, and anyone that has seen me at the tournaments will notice that I’m often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety.”

    pic.twitter.com/LN2ANnoAYD
    — NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) May 31, 2021
    Osaka stated within the build-up to the event that she wouldn’t attend the compulsory press conferences, citing that the best way journalists quiz gamers adversely impacts her psychological well-being. There was no rapid response from event organisers.