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By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday, December 7, 2020
Naomi Osaka has been named SI Athlete of the Year, the fifth tennis player to receive the honor.
Naomi osaka he has become the fifth tennis player to win the Sports Illustrated Athlete of the Year award (since 1954).
The 23-year-old three-time Grand Slam champion made strong statements in 2020 with her support for racial justice and human rights, and backed her efforts with a surprising run to the US Open title. Perhaps even bigger than the title was a leader on the social justice front. Osaka drew attention to the cause when she wore a different mask for each of her seven matches at the US OP in 2020, each adorned with the name of a black person who had been the victim of violence.
Introducing the #Sports person of the year: The Activist Athlete.
Congratulations to the five who inspired 2020: @King James, @breannastewart, @PatrickMahomes, @naomiosaka Y @LaurentDTardif https://t.co/uLEiwWyaDO pic.twitter.com/6i6DSqw0wN
– Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 6, 2020
“I just want to raise awareness,” was what Osaka told reporters after their first round in New York. “I am aware that tennis is seen all over the world and perhaps there is someone who does not know the story of Breonna Taylor. Maybe they like Google or something. For me, just spread awareness. I feel like the more people know about the story, the more interesting or interested they will become in it. “
Osaka is part of a group of five who received this year’s award. She joins Patrick Mahomes, quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, Lebron James Los Angeles Lakers, star of the WNBA Breanna Stewart and NFL player Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, also of the Kansas City Chiefs.
“Our Athlete of the Year award goes to five men and women who in 2020 were champions in every sense of the word: champions on the field, champions for others outside of it,” the magazine said.
Osaka, a reluctant voice at first, has taken on her role as an agent of enlightenment and change among her tennis partners. Osaka courageously refused to separate her humanity from her athleticism and shook the tennis world when she helped force a shutdown during the Western and Southern Open this summer in New York.
Weeks later, she would return to court, driven by her passion for the cause, as the families of the seven people she caught the attention of the public cheered for her efforts and thanked her with tears in their eyes as they witnessed the celebration of their loved ones. as more than names. With the help of Osaka, they have become a significant part of a movement that has more momentum than before.
“She drew a lot of attention to her stories,” wrote Martina Navratilova, in an opinion piece for SI. “Naomi is not someone you can dismiss as a liberal. This was not political. She was humanizing the huge problem of police violence against blacks in America. It was about justice. It was about human rights ”.
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