Naomi Osaka has won her US Open Championship, making it her third Grand Slam title.
She has also set the record by becoming the youngest three-time major winner since Maria Sharapova captured her third crown in 2008.
She beats Victoria Azarenka 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the US Open final on Saturday.
Beyond her superlative performance at the tennis court, Osaka assumed a new status as an activist and agent of social change.
For her seven matches at US Open Championship 2020 in New York, Osaka wore seven different face masks, each sporting the name of a victim of violence, including Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Tamir Rice.
Shortly after her third Grand Slam win, Osaka explained that her desire for wearing those special face masks was to further highlight the racial challenge in the United States of America and beyond.
“What was the message you got, is more of the question. I feel the point is to make people start talking. I feel that I’m a vessel at this point in order to spread awareness and hopefully it won’t dull the pain, but help with anything that they need.
“For me, I’ve been inside of the bubble, so I’m not really sure what’s really going on in the outside world. All I can tell is what’s going on on social media. For me, I feel like the more retweets it gets — that’s so lame — but the more people talk about it,” said the 22-year-old tennis champion.
Idowu Sowunmi
