Osaka, who was born in Japan to a Haitian father and Japanese mother, spent her formative years in the United States and lives in Los Angeles. She represents her birth country in competition but her influence defies international borders.
One of the most recognized personalities in Japan, Osaka sent shockwaves through her sport before the tournament even began. "Watching the continued genocide of Black people at the hand of the police is honestly making me sick to my stomach," she wrote on social media at the time. "It has been more than 50 years since athletes like Muhammad Ali, John Carlos and Tommie Smith and the Original 9 of women's tennis all stood up and used their sport, their voices and their actions to change humanity," she said.Her final mask of the U.S. Open bore the name of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Black child who was holding a toy gun when a police officer shot and killed him in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2014.