After wearing 7 different names of Black people killed unjustifiably by police, sis won for a second time…the US Open that is. The first face mask she wore during her first round match was black with the name of Breonna Taylor. The days after, she repped Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Philando Castille, and on the last day…Tamir Rice.
As she lay on the ground looking up at the sky, right after she won, her mind traced back to those who came before her and had this same encounter.
“I’ve always wanted to see what they saw”she said.
“It’s quite sad that seven masks isn’t enough for the amount of names”, Osaka said on September 1, two days after withdrawing before the Western & Southern Open final because of a left hamstring injury. Prior to the match both her and her opponent Azarenka were undefeated.
The 22 year old who is half Japanese and half Haitian is the first woman to win a U.S. Open final after losing the first set since Spaniard Aranta Sanchez Vicario in 1994.