Naomi Osaka began her career as an up-and-coming tennis phenom. She was ranked as the No. 1 women’s singles competitor by the WTA for 25 weeks in a row beginning in January 2019, when she was just 23 years old.
Over the next two years, she saw her performances dip. Osaka became outspoken about her struggles with mental health. She had some off-court issues stemming from her blaming the media for the things they were reporting, and her admitting that it was consuming her mentally and causing issues on the court. Osaka was also notably battling depression as early as September 2018.
As she struggled with her mental health, there were times we saw her dealing with anger and anxiety on the court, sometimes smashing or throwing her racquets.
Osaka finally took a break from tennis, but her mental health issues didn’t spur it. Instead, ahead of the 2023 Australian Open, she announced that she would be taking a leave from tennis to have a child. She vowed to return to the sport the following year, and she did. Since returning, Osaka has looked like the version of herself that rose to the top women’s tennis player in the world, and she attributed the career turnaround to her becoming a mother.
Here is more on Osaka’s family tree.
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Naomi Osaka daughter
Osaka’s daughter Shai was born in July 2023. The name was chosen because it means “gift” in Arabic. Osaka clarified in an interview with ESPN that the name means “God’s gift,” saying, “that’s how I wanted her to feel, like she’s God’s gift to me and her dad.”
Professional female athletes who get pregnant are often scrutinized. It usually comes when they are in the prime of their athletic careers, and critics say that they won’t ever be able to reclaim the glory from before their pregnancy.
Osaka’s beliefs couldn’t be more different. In the documentary about her return to tennis called “Naomi Osaka: The Second Set,” the tennis player discusses this by saying, “I have multiple identities. My return to the sport is a love letter for moms. Some people say she ended my career, but for me, it feels like she started my career.”
Osaka told People in an exclusive interview that Shai’s nursery is cloud-themed. “I wanted something that felt very peaceful and serene that would help the baby and me feel comfortable. We ultimately landed on the cloud theme, which feels really perfect for what we envisioned.”
Even though Osaka has had interviews about her daughter, she has only posted her once on her Instagram, and the post has since been deleted. This article from People looks at the pictures that were in the post that was deleted.
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Naomi Osaka parents: Leonard Francois and Tamaki Osaka
Osaka is of Japanese decent. Her father is Leonard Francois, and her mother is Tamaki Osaka. They met in Japan when Francois was visiting in the 90s. He was in college and Osaka was finishing high school. They chose to begin dating, but kept their relationship a secret.
Tamaki’s father began to push an arranged marriage on her, but, according to The New York Times, Osaka revealed her relationship, and Francois moved in with her. The couple welcomed two daughters into the world. First, they had Mari in 1996 and then Naomi in 1997. The parents introduced both sisters to tennis, and while they never reached the heights of the Williams sisters, both played professionally to some extent.
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Francois was born in Haiti, while Osaka was born in Japan. Naomi talked about her combined heritage in 2018, saying, “Japanese culture? I kind of love everything about it … And Haiti, if you’ve ever met a Haitian person, they are really positive, and literally if you’re friends with them, then they will do anything for you. That’s something that is a really good trait, and I’m really happy that my grandparents and my dad’s side of the family is like that.”
In 2020, she added, “As long as I can remember, people have struggled to define me. I’ve never really fit into one description — but people are so fast to give me a label. Is she Japanese? American? Haitian? Black? Asian? Well, I’m all of these things together at the same time.”
Francois watched the Williams sisters’ debut in 1999 when his own daughters were very young. He took inspiration from their father, and watched any videos he could to coach them to play tennis. Francois moved the family to Florida in 2006 for his daughters to have more opportunities to train and learn tennis. About the training, Francois said in an interview, “The blueprint was already there. I just had to follow it,” referencing how Richard Williams trained his daughters.
Her parents were also influential in helping her play for Japan in the Olympics. Naomi gave up her U.S. citizenship in 2019 in order to represent Japan at the 2021 Olympics. She was a dual-citizen, but Japanese culture says you must pick one citizenship before you turn 22, and Osaka decided on Japanese. In the docuseries, her mother talked about the decision saying, “We made the decision that Naomi would represent Japan at an early age. She was born in Osaka and was brought up in a household of Japanese and Haitian culture. Quite simply, Naomi and her sister, Mari, have always felt Japanese, so that was our only rationale. It was never a financially motivated decision nor were we ever swayed either way by any national federation.”
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Naomi Osaka sister: Mari Osaka
Naomi was born in 1997, but her older sister Mari was born in 1996. Like Naomi, Mari was also trained in tennis growing up. She didn’t quite reach the success of her sister, but she was still ranked No. 280 in the world. Mari did retire in 2021 due to injuries, and because she wanted to focus on art and design. Now, she is a fashion designer, even going as far as designing the outfit that Naomi wore to the Met Gala in 2021.
Who is Noami Osaka’s partner?
Shai’s father and Osaka’s ex-boyfriend is named Cordae. He is an American rapper who was born in North Carolina. He and Osaka first got together in 2019 when they attended a Clippers game. Cordae is a Grammy-nominated artist and has collaborated with H.E.R. and Young Thug. He was extremely supportive of her as she went through her mental health struggles. She was struggling at the 2020 U.S. Open, and he joined her in New York and quarantined with her.
They welcomed a daughter together in July 2023. Fans thought the couple was in a rough spot because at the end of 2023, she scrubbed her social media of him, but they ended up staying together until 2025. In January of 2025, Osaka posted an Instagram story that said they decided to go their separate ways, but that there was no bad blood between them and they’d continue raising Shai together.
.@cordae was hype when @naomiosaka captured her second #USOpen title 👏 pic.twitter.com/8eoLtsM9vQ
— espnW (@espnW) September 12, 2020
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Naomi Osaska-Cordae relationship timeline
2019
In 2019, the couple made their first public appearance at an L.A. Clippers game.
2020
In 2020, despite COVID-19, Cordae quarantined and then supported Osaka at the 2020 U.S. Open.
2021
In 2021, the couple attended the Met Gala together, with Osaka wearing a dress that her sister helped to design.
2023
2023 was a big year for the couple. They had their daughter, Shai, in July, but by October, fans thought they might be on the outs when Naomi scrubbed Cordae from her social media. It turns out that they decided to just make their relationship more private.
2025
Osaka posted in January that the couple had decided to go their separate ways, but were focused on raising Shai together, and that there was no bad blood.
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Where is Naomi Osaka from?
Naomi was born on October 16, 1997 in Chuo Ward, Osaka, Japan. Osaka also happened to be her mother’s last name, and when the daughters were born, their mother and father decided to give them their mother’s maiden name. This was done to make it easier for them growing up in Japan, and Osaka chose her Japanese citizenship ahead of the 2021 Olympics, and gave up her United States dual citizenship.
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