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Imagine the fervour that would have been created at the 2010 World Cup had Benni McCarthy won the Uefa Champions league just a year before the tournament began.
This is what the Japanese people are probably feeling as they start anticipating the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics, thanks to tennis sensation Naomi Osaka.
The 21-year-old won her second grand slam after beating Petra Kvitová of the Czech Republic 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 in the Australian Open Ladies’ final last weekend. This led to her claiming the number one spot in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings for the first time in her career.
The Japanese superstar became the first woman since American Jennifer Capriati (in 2001) to follow her first grand slam title by immediately winning the next one, and the first since Serena Williams in 2015 to win two grand slams in a row.
Her latest Australian victory proves it wasn’t luck that saw her beat Williams and win the US Open, although the match ended controversially. It will unfortunately be remembered by many for Williams’ verbal spat with umpire Carlos Ramos.
Osaka has already started to follow the path of the greats with her recent victory, which has made her the first ever Asian player to be number one in the world.
The closest Japanese tennis players have previously come was when Kei Nishikori fell short at the 2014 US Open, losing to Croatian Marin Cilic in the final. Before that fellow Japanese tennis player Kazuko Sawamatsu won Wimbledon in the doubles in 1975.
What makes Osaka’s achievement even more remarkable is the fact that no female player has won two grand slams in one season, or back to back in the past two years.
In the recent past women’s tennis has been so inconsistent that players have been sharing the grand slam titles, with different winners.
The first one was Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, who ousted Romanian Simona Halep at the 2017 French Open final. The winner of Wimbledon in the same year was Spanish star Garbiñe Muguruza, followed by American Sloane Stephens winning the final grand slam of the year, the US Open.
Last year began with Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark claiming the Australian Open. Next it was Halep winning her first grand slam at Roland Garros after failing to do so a number of times. German Angelique Kerber won the Wimbledon before Osaka clinched her first at the US Open.
With the lack consistency among her competitors, Osaka seems to be on the right track to follow in the footsteps of greats such as Williams, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf, to mention just three. She has shown the grit and nerves of steel required to lead the next generation of female tennis players.
For the world number one it all started in Osaka, where she was born in 1997. Her mother, Tamaki Osaka, is Japanese while her father, Leonard François, came from Haiti. She went to live in the United States when she was just three years old.
Osaka was inspired by Williams while growing up and even wrote a school essay about how it was her dream to play against her one day.
She has a sister, Mari Osaka, who is ranked number 332.
In 2016 Osaka was voted WTA newcomer of the year. When Williams finally retires, Osaka seems set to take over and dominate if she continues with her current incredible form.
