NEW YORK – Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka has paid tribute to Serena Williams, saying she was “the greatest force in the sport” and left a legacy that “can’t even be described in words. “
Osaka starts his US Open campaign against Danielle Collins on Tuesday and knows the place well after winning in 2018 and 2020. But until then, Osaka will be one of the millions watching Williams when she faces Danka Kovinic on Monday in what is expected to be Serena’s last US Open.
“I think her legacy is so great that it can’t even be described in words,” Osaka said on Saturday. “Like, she changed the sport so much. She introduced people who had never heard of tennis to the sport. I think I’m a product of what she did.
“I wouldn’t be here without Serena, Venus, her entire family. I am very grateful to her.
“I was also trying to figure out how to put it into words. I honestly think she’s, like, the biggest force in the sport. [Roger] Federer or [Rafael] Nadal less. I just think she’s the biggest thing the sport will ever have. It’s just such an honor to just watch her play.”
Osaka faced Williams four times, winning three of those matches. They met in Miami in 2018 where Osaka won 6-3, 6-2 and then met in the final of the 2018 US Open. Osaka took those 6-2, 6-4 to win their first helmet. They met twice more: Williams won in Toronto in 2019, and Osaka won their last meeting in the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 2021.
Williams announced on August 9 in an op-ed for Vogue that she plans to “evolve away from tennis”. The announcement came just a day after she beat Nuria Parrisas-Díaz in the first round of the Canadian Open. Osaka was a spectator in Toronto that day watching Williams.
“For some reason, I just started crying because I felt it,” Osaka said. “I felt when I played her in Australia, people thought, ‘This is the last time she’ll be in Australia.’ I thought, damn it, I really don’t want this to be true.
“It seemed to me that she was preparing for her last swing in the USA. I just started crying. And a day later, she announced it. Yes, I’m honored to just keep watching her play.”
And Osaka said it was difficult to put into words Williams’ legacy in tennis, but praised her for breaking barriers.
“If you look at all the people with our skin color, it is clear that we followed her. I also think from a business point of view, she is very passionate about technology, so whoever follows this or tries to follow this, I think it will clearly be influenced by her. In general, both culturally and stylistically, she was the first to have her own line and such.
“There were definitely a lot of barriers that I’m sure she had to overcome in order to break down. Now we can easily get through this thanks to her… I’m pretty sure she did a lot of things that I don’t know but would be interesting to see.
“I know she didn’t call it retirement, she called it evolution, which I think is really cool. I feel that the term “retirement” means the end of something. But because she says “evolution”. it means like an ongoing journey.”