ZipRecruiter Player Resume: Naomi Osaka expands her formidable empire

From her first viral forehand at a 2014 tournament in Stanford, Naomi Osaka has been all about making a statement.

Osaka is the youngest daughter of Japanese and Haitian immigrants and grew up playing tennis in New York and later Florida with elder sister Mari. Her thunderous pro debut came as a teenager—at the expense of 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur—and set her on a course for stardom.

By 18, she had reached the third round of all four major tournaments. By 19, she won her first major tournament in New York, stunning 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in straight sets on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Osaka clinched the No. 1 ranking at the start of 2019 when she won the Australian Open in a thrilling three-setter over Petra Kvitova, and ended that year with back-to-back titles in Tokyo and Beijing—the latter in a classic against then-No. 1 Ashleigh Barty.

She emerged from the global pandemic—and subsequent lockdown—more sure of herself than ever, and blended her effortless aggression with a silent Black Lives Matter protest that echoed across the world. Rallying from a set and a break down to outlast Victoria Azarenka and win her third major title in New York, she repeated the hard-court double to start the 2021 season with a second Australian Open crown.

Now 23 years of age, Osaka is the highest paid female athlete in the world, earning $55 million dollars last year on the strength of a formidable endorsement portfolio. Extending her business acumen into new ventures, collaborations and NFTs, she stands atop an empire that is only continuing to grow.

Ahead of her long-awaited debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she debuted her eponymous Netflix series that summarized only the first chapter in what looks to be a long, fulfilling career.