Skip to Content
Off Court

A Letter From Naomi Osaka

[vc_empty_space height="5px"]

By Naomi Osaka

[vc_empty_space height="15px"]This issue isn’t all about me, it’s about my world. I feel like this is a different lens to see my orbit from—a more interesting one for the reader. Everyone knows most of my answers to the standard questions by now, so there’s not much more I can add to my biography or tennis results. So asking Racquet to write about and illustrate my world, I hope, will allow people to see me from a different perspective. I felt it was time to offer a commentary on the culture around the periphery of tennis, rather than forehands and backhands. The edition touches on things I’m interested in like fashion, travel, art, and photography, so there was so much potential to broaden the context in which I’m seen.

Racquet published one of the first profiles of me, in the fall of 2016, before I’d made a mark in professional tennis. I think it was interesting back then because most people didn’t know me or my story, but now it’s been told so many times it’s starting to lose its relevance, so I’m excited to do something different and fresh. There have been a lot of newspaper columns devoted to my personal story, so for me it’s time to turn the page and talk about cool stuff that we can all relate to together.

For the cover, I chose the Nigerian visual artist Dennis Osadebe. I have a few pieces of his in my house and I think he’s awesome. As for the rest of the magazine in your hands, the interpretation is in the eye of the beholder, so I have no preconceived ideas about what anyone will take away from this project. I hope there’s a broad enough spectrum here that there’s something that everyone can relate to, or enjoy consuming.

naomi_end-point

[vc_empty_space height="10px"]Above: Johanna Goodman (Getty/Robert Wilson)[vc_column width="1/6"][vc_tweetmeme share_via="racqetmagazine"][vc_column width="1/6"][vc_facebook type="button_count"][vc_column width="1/6"][vc_column width="1/6"][vc_column width="1/6"][vc_column width="1/6"][vc_empty_space height="45px"][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_column width="1/2"]

ISSUE NO. 17
By NAOMI OSAKA

racquet_issue-17

[vc_btn title="BUY NOW" style="outline" shape="square" color="success" size="lg" align="center" button_block="true" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fracquetmag.com%2Fproduct%2Fissue-no-17%2F|title:GET%20IT%20NOW||"][vc_column width="1/4"]

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Racquet

Post-Fires, Tennis isn’t Going Anywhere in LA

It’s difficult to emphasize enough how much Los Angeles had positively awakened to tennis in the last few years. Now you see people playing in their front yards, on uneven hilly driveways in Eagle Rock. Using their clanging garage doors as backboards. Annoying the neighbors; not caring. This is how tennis in LA will persist.

March 4, 2025

Madison Keys on Playing Brave

Rennae talks to the woman behind everyone's favorite Grand Slam success story about learning to love the process in tennis, her decades-long journey on the tour and how a little therapy and playing brave pays off. 

March 3, 2025

Who’s on the Rise Ahead of Indian Wells?

We give deserved standing ovations to the players who've gotten their inner games of tennis together—looking at you Mirra Andreeva, Andrey Rublev and of course, Madison Keys! Also a slightly inappropriate discussion of the hottest tennis match ever, a brief detour through South America, and most importantly, we'll see you in Indian Wells! 

February 26, 2025

Absolute Scenes at the Rio Open

A week after claiming his first title at the Argentina Open, hometown hero João Fonseca returns to Brazil to massive crowds.

February 21, 2025

Where to Travel with your Racquet in 2025

The beginning of the year is, for the organized and the ambitious, the time to plan travel for the year ahead. We here at Racquet can juuust see the toes of our shoes on the sidewalk in front of us, but for those of you who can plan an entire year in advance—good for you!—we have some places to consider. You’ll of course be packing your racquet.

February 13, 2025
See all posts