Naomi Osaka (Osaka, 22, 10th in the world), former number one and winner of two Grand Slams, takes advantage of the break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which interrupted the international tennis circuit in early March, to delve into a trait of her personality that, according to her, has hitherto hurt her: shyness. “I really regret it”Osaka was honest in an interview for CNN Sports in which he spoke of that withdrawn character that he wants to banish from his life once and for all.
“What I regret the most is not saying what I'm thinking”, explained the Japanese one day after posting a few tweets in which she revealed her inner struggle: “I stopped being shy. It's really a waste of time,” she wrote. “I could have shared so many ideas, I could have dated so many different people. All the things I could have learned, but no, I'm limiting myself here.” That inability to speak has led him to lose weight in decisions that directly affected him: “There are many times when I see myself in situations where I could have given my opinion, but instead I held back and things kept moving in one direction. so I really didn't enjoy it. “
An example of his extreme shyness was what happened to him when he met the couple of musicians Jay-Z and Beyoncé during a vacation in the Turks and Caicos Islands. “They started talking to me, but I got really nervous and answered in monosyllables, so suddenly they said, 'Are you shy?' and I said 'yes', and the conversation stopped abruptly. “
On the beginnings of his career, he remembered with a smile the first times he competed in tournaments: “I was very shy and didn't know what to do or where to store my things.” “A couple of years ago, I would have been very, very embarrassed to do this interview and it would only have come out as two words, but now I am releasing complete sentences!” He explains with good humor. Osaka concluded with a smart approach: “I feel like I want to take advantage of this time to learn something new or to improve because I'm pretty sure I won't have that much free time again.”