Naomi Osaka

An athlete whose sheer talent made her a household name, Naomi Osaka was born Osaka, Japan in 1997. With a Haitian father and Japanese mother, Osaka represented the ideals of multiculturalism practically from birth, but these principles would imprint upon her even further since her family relocated to the United States when she was only three. The young Asian-Haitian-American Osaka would begin training in tennis when she was just three as well, taking to the sport so intensely that she turned pro by the time she was 16, making her main-draw debut at the Bank of the West Classic in 2014. Her introduction to the professional tennis world would be very encouraging, as she won the Rising Stars Invitational exhibition tournament at the WTA finals in 2015, and reached the third round during her Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open the following year.

Osaka would reach the third rounds at the French and U.S. Opens in 2016 as well, making it somewhat less surprising-if no less impressive-when she defeated defending champion Angelique Kerber in her first round at her second U.S. Open the following year. Osaka would find 2018 to be an even more favorable year, winning the BNP Paribas Open and defeating Serena Williams to win the U.S. Open in a hotly anticipated match.