Naomi Osaka, a tennis player who used to be quite shy in her demonstrations, is increasingly loose in the face of questions asked by tournament interviewers in which it plays. After beating Serena Williams in the semifinals of the Open, in a match that she clearly dominated (6-3 and 6-4), he attended former tennis player Jim Courier at the foot of the track and surprised with a curious anecdote that he started to tell and that has to do with Rafa Nadal.
“I have a story. I had been eating Japanese food for three weeks the day before the games and last night I decided to switch to Greek. I went to bed and when I got up today I saw that Tsitsi (Stefanos Tsitsipas) had beaten Nadal and I thought, 'this may be a sign'. So I'm going to stick with Greek food. “
The fact is that Tsitsipas is Osaka's best friend on the circuit and once he explained why: “We are similar in the way we think. We like to ask questions, we are interested in many things, even though we are in our world. I think we are honest people. We learn a lot from each other on a cultural level and we break down barriers. It is fun”. Now both are still in competition, Osaka in the women's final and Tsitsipas in the semi-finals.
A relationship born from a tweet
The two interact a lot on social media and have had encounters on Instagram. The Hellenic was struck by this tweet from Naomi in 2018 and that's why their friendship was born: “I got tired of being shy. It's really a waste of time. I could have shared so many ideas, I could have had conversations with so many different people. All the things I could have learned but no, I'm here really getting my own limiter “.
The message to his sister on camera: “Stop sending weird images”
The Japanese tennis player also surprised with the message she signed on camera after her victory against Serena Williams and that it was addressed to her sister. “Mari, stop sending weird pictures around the chat group.”
A message that Osaka herself wanted to clarify in statements to Eurosport. “Sometimes he sends very strange things for that group and he also sends it to me and my friends. Sometimes it bothers me a little and that's why I wanted to tell him, “he explained.