Naomi Osaka shares a great bond with her elder sister, Mari Osaka. Both the Osaka sisters were a part of the tennis circuit from a very young age. However, in 2021, the elder Osaka sister retired from the sport, calling it off her incredible tennis journey. Whereas, on the other hand, the 24-year-old younger sibling won four Grand Slam titles in the past few years. Recently, Osaka stated how she always had the urge to beat her own sister and how it worked in a good way. 

The Japanese tennis player was recently invited to the TODAY with Hoda & Jenna chat show. She talked about mental health, her role model getting retired, and also her determination to want to do better than her sister. 

Naomi Osaka talks about being competitive

Naomi Osaka, the four-time Grand Slam champion, talked about how she always wanted to be better at something than her sister. She also talked about the competitive feeling she had when she started playing tennis with her sister. 

She said, “For me I was lucky. I have a sister, an older sister that’s much better than me a lot of things. So, I’m very competitive and I always felt the urge to try to beat her… I did look up to her a lot um when we went to school, people would refer to me as her sister. So, it was one of those things where I just I don’t know there’s something I wanted to be better than her.”

READ MORE – Bundled in Mental Health Controversies, Naomi Osaka Breaks the Shackles With an Honest Confession – ‘Why Would I Keep Pushing?’

The former world number one believed that she was blessed to have an elder sister. She looked up at her while facing a lot of things. However, due to a competitive feeling, she always had to be good at something than her. She also added when they were in school, people always saw her as Mari’s sister. 

Osaka never won a match against her sister

Back when Naomi and Mari were kids, the elder Osaka sister was unbeatable whenever she used to play against her younger sister. During the 2019 interview, the Japanese tennis player talked about how her sister used to beat her in all the tennis matches till they turned 15. 

WATCH THIS STORY – When Serena Williams had a hilarious challenge for Naomi Osaka’s former coach

She even remembered the score. She said that she had a lead with 6 pointers while the four-time Grand Slam champion has never won a match against her sister.