“Your Only Competition is You”: Naomi Osaka Has Words of Inspiration for Her Fan

At only 23, the Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka has attained the kind of success that most people only dream about. As a result, she recently found herself the focus of an inevitable comparison.

Naomi loves to interact with her fans via social networking sites. On Instagram, one of Naomi’s fans mentioned that even though the tennis player was only a year older than the fan, she had accomplished so much more in life.

In this message, tennis’ former No. 1 saw the reflection of her past. Naomi wrote, “I compared myself and my achievements to other people all the time. I would feel pressured because of age as well, but I promise you that you don’t have to worry about that. You’re on your own path and don’t look at what other people are doing for comparison. Your only competition is yourself. You’re the only person living your life and walking your path so treasure that.”

To date, the World No. 3 has 3 Grand Slam amidst her 6 WTA career titles. Osaka is the only Japanese to win a major title and the only Asian to hold the number 1 rank in tennis.

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Naomi Osaka plans for a big comeback in 2021

After her rise from winning back-to-back Grand Slams at the 2018 US Open and 2019 Australian Open, the Japanese player’s career had halted. She finally managed to revive it by claiming the 2020 US Open title.

But failing to defend her title in Australia earlier this year, she lost her chance to regain the top rank. Osaka will look forward to changing this in the coming season.

The WTA season will start in Abu Dhabi for the very first time in tennis history. Osaka, however, has declined to participate in the WTA 500 tournament in UAE.

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This draws attention to her mindset of preparing fully for the Australian Open. Even Serena Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam champion, is equally motivated to clinch the title.

In defense of the 23-year-old, she has shown indisputable maturity in the past few years, and her words to her fan also show that she is a true sportsman.

Hopefully, Osaka will achieve all her goals of 2021, even those which are not related to tennis. For her fans, she will be ready to show her best at the opening Grand Slam next year.

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