Page 10 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
SPORTS
March 1, 2021
Already a star, on court and off, Osaka eyes more
By Howard Fendrich
The Associated Press
N
aomi Osaka already is a star at
age 23. She has the four Grand
Slam titles, the record-breaking
endorsement deals, and the willingness to
speak her mind to prove it.
Now the question is: Where does she go
from here?
It was telling that the second question
posed to Osaka at the news conference
following her 6-4, 6-3 victory over Jennifer
Brady in the Australian Open final — after
she took a sip of celebratory bubbly that
she said made her “feel a little bit funny” —
was about turning in better performances
at Wimbledon and the French Open.
After all, each of her major
championships so far came on hard courts
at Melbourne Park (2019, 2021) or the U.S.
Open (2018, 2020). She never has been
past the third round at the All England
Club or Roland Garros.
Even more revealing was Osaka’s
response.
Asked whether her first non-hard-court
Slam trophy will come on clay or grass, she
said: “Hopefully clay, because it’s the one
that’s sooner.”
She is not about biding her time or
patient improvement.
And she’s been thinking about where
she needs to improve.
“It was one of her goals this year to play
well outside of the hard courts. She’s still
very young. It’s time to grow on those
surfaces. She also believes she can do well
and, I’m sure, with the right preparation,
with a few, maybe, tactical (and) technical
adjustments, we’re going to do well,” said
her coach, Wim Fissette. “She’s the person
that wants to grow.”
Part of what makes Osaka special is
embracing challenges and knowing what
she stands for.
That’s been the case off the court and on.
With a racket in her hand, it’s about, as
Fissette put it, being able to “love big
matches and big moments.”
Osaka wanted to face 23-time major
champion Serena Williams in the
semifinals, for example.
No fear there.
“She was like when I bring my kids to the
toy store: They are very excited. And
Naomi was excited to go on court with
Serena. It’s just beautiful to see,” Fissette
said. “At the end, this is what you train for,
right? To be on the biggest stage with the
best player of all time, Serena.”
Away from the game, Osaka says, it took
time to find her voice and express her
views.
She was born in Japan to a Japanese
mother and Haitian father, and she moved
to the United States when she was three
years old. Last August, she was the first
tennis pro to join athletes from other
sports in walking out to protest the police
shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin.
“Before I am an athlete,” Osaka tweeted
at the time, “I am a black woman.”
On her way to the U.S. Open title in
September, Osaka wore masks bearing the
names of seven Black victims of violence to
draw attention to racism and police
brutality.
Osaka was asked recently whether there
was a message she wanted associated with
her latest triumph, which made her 4 for 4
in Slam finals.
“Honestly, for me, when everything
happened in New York, I got really scared,
because I felt like it put me into this light
that was a non-athletic light that I’ve
never been in before,” she said. “So I feel
like there is a lot of topics that people
suddenly started asking me about that I
completely didn’t know about at all. For
me, I only like to talk when I’m
knowledgeable about the subject or at
least know, like, one tiny grain of what I’m
about to start talking about. So for me, I
just came into this tournament just
thinking purely about tennis.”
And yet, in the aftermath of winning the
AMAZING ATHLETE. Naomi Osaka celebrates
after defeating Jennifer Brady in the women’s singles
final at the Australian Open tennis championship in
Melbourne, Australia, last month. Osaka already is a
star at age 23. She has the four Grand Slam titles, the
record-breaking endorsement deals, and the willing-
ness to speak her mind to prove it. Now the question
is: Where does she go from here? (AP Photo/Andy
Brownbill)
trophy, she was ready to think about a
larger role, too.
Many looked at her win against
Williams as a passing of the mantle. Osaka
also won their meeting in the 2018 U.S.
Open final — who could forget that one? —
and has eclipsed the 39-year-old American
as the highest-earning female athlete
because of millions in sponsorship deals.
But to Osaka, Williams is still, and
always will be, an idol and an inspiration,
a player whose example she wanted to
follow.
And the best way to repay that, Osaka
figures, is to hold that role for others.
“Hopefully I play long enough to play a
girl that said that I was once her favorite
player or something,” Osaka said. “For me,
I think that’s the coolest thing that could
ever happen to me. ... That’s how the sport
moves forward.”
Howard Fendrich covers tennis
for The Associated Press.
Angels’ Ohtani having more fun, still chasing 2-way dreams
By Greg Beacham
The Associated Press
A
NAHEIM, Calif. — When Shohei
Ohtani’s major league career got
off to its incredible start in 2018,
the Los Angeles Angels’ two-way star
remembers having fun every day he got on
the mound or in the batter’s box.
An injured elbow ligament largely ended
the good times and sent Ohtani into a 2 ½-
year struggle to recapture his dominant
form.
The Japanese star is hoping the struggle
is almost over and more fun is on the
horizon.
Ohtani’s pitching arm is healthy, his
swing is solid, and he’s back in camp to
resume his dream of establishing himself
firmly as the majors’ most successful
two-way player in decades.
To get there, Ohtani believes he needs to
return to his mindset in 2018, when he
joined Babe Ruth as the only players in
major league history to hit 20 homers and
make 10 starts in the same season.
“It’s kind of how I felt in 2018 (again),”
Ohtani said, speaking through his
translator in his first interview of spring.
“More than (feeling) pressure, I just want
to have fun and feel good out there, and
just do my job when it’s given. Hopefully, I
want to make (Angels manager) Joe
(Maddon) use me as much as possible.”
The Angels remain committed to the
Ohtani experiment, but they aren’t
making any grand declarations about
their designated hitter’s pitching future
after Ohtani managed to make just two
terrible mound starts in the past two
seasons.
The club is aware the baseball world is
wondering whether Ohtani should
concentrate solely on his hitting career,
particularly after he slumped at the plate
last season. But they still believe in
Ohtani’s potential.
“I’m eager to watch this just like
everybody else,” Maddon said. “If we get
Shohei in the right direction, that would be
a pretty good offseason acquisition right
there. We’ve seen what he’s capable of
doing.”
Ohtani missed all of 2019 as a pitcher
while recovering from Tommy John
surgery, and his return last year during
the coronavirus-shortened 2020 campaign
was scuttled early due to a strained elbow
and forearm. It was a steep decline from
2018, when the AL Rookie of the Year had
a 3.31 Earned Run Average (ERA) and a
1.161 Walks & Hits per Innings Pitched
(WHIP) over 10 starts.
Ohtani and the Angels both believe he is
fully healthy now. He had recently thrown
a 27-pitch bullpen session, and Ohtani
said his arm currently feels “much better
than last year.”
Ohtani is doing a few things differently
in a bid to maintain his overall health,
although he prefers to keep many of the
details private. He said he changed his diet
“to make my body feel better.”
Ohtani touched 90 miles per hour when
he threw in the bullpen session while
wearing a band on his right forearm. He
said the device tracks the stress on his
arm, hoping to avoid a repeat of last
season’s problems.
The Angels hope to insert Ohtani into a
six-man rotation headlined by Dylan
Bundy and Andrew Heaney, but they will
wait until late March to firm up their
plans. After the struggles of the last two
seasons, the Angels want Ohtani to be
fully comfortable.
Regardless of his mound performance,
the Angels also need an improvement in
Ohtani’s work at the plate. While he still
had incredible power last season, his
overall designated hitter performance
declined sharply to a .657 On-base Plus
Slugging (OPS) with just 29 hits in 175
plate appearances.
Again, Ohtani thinks he’s in prime
position to return to his 2018 form with the
bat as well.
“I’ve been swinging, hitting all
offseason, and I think my swing is feeling
really good right now,” Ohtani said. “My
body is feeling really good. I think we’re in
a good spot, hitting-wise.”
The Angels’ commitment to Ohtani as a
two-way player was underlined in his
contract negotiations last month.
Ohtani sacrificed untold millions when
he elected to move from Japan to the
majors in late 2017 instead of waiting a
couple of years. The Angels got Ohtani for
a relative pittance and six years of
organizational control, but they avoided
arbitration in February by giving him a
two-year, $8.5-million contract through
2022.
“I’m glad that’s out of the way and I can
just focus on baseball,” Ohtani said. “I’m
not worried about the total amount, and I
don’t want to think too far ahead.”