Naomi Osaka is the first Asian tennis player to become No. 1 in the world

In 2019, Naomi Osaka scored her second Grand Slam championship when she defeated Petra Kvitová at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia. In doing so, the then-21-year-old Osaka became the first Asian tennis athlete — male or female — to be ranked No. 1 in the world.

Retired Chinese tennis player Li Na, the first Asian player to win a Grand Slam, was on hand to present the trophy to Osaka. “Thank you, everyone,” Osaka said after her win.

“I am really honored to have played in this final.” She also commended Kvitová, saying she always wanted to play the Czech athlete.

Two weeks later, Osaka parted ways with coach Sascha Bajin. She told reporters that they hadn’t fallen out over money, refuting the gossip at the time. “My reason is I wouldn’t put success over my happiness — that’s my main thing,” she revealed, per Reuters.

“I’m not going to sacrifice that just to keep a person around.“ She later hired Jermaine Jenkins as a coach, followed by Wim Fisette, with her father filling in the gap between, per WTA.

Naomi Osaka became the highest-paid female athlete ever in 2020

At just 22 years old, Naomi Osaka became the highest-paid female athlete ever after earning $37.4 million from prize money and endorsements across a 12-month span, as Forbes reported in 2020. The ranking ended Serena Williams’ four-year streak as the highest-paid female athlete, though Williams did join Osaka as the only two women on Forbes’ list of that year’s 100 highest-paid athletes.

The magazine listed some of Osaka’s lucrative endorsement deals — including agreements with Nike, Procter & Gamble, Nissan Motor, Shiseido, Yonex, Nippon Airways, MasterCard, and Nissin Foods — and noted that she’s a hot commodity ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics (which were postponed to 2021).

“To those outside the tennis world, Osaka is a relatively fresh face with a great backstory,” David Carter, a sports business professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business, told Forbes.

“Combine that with being youthful and bicultural, two attributes that help her resonate with younger, global audiences, and the result is the emergence of a global sports marketing icon.”

In 2021, Osaka announced another business move on Instagram, telling fans that she’d become Louis Vuitton’s newest brand ambassador.