Naomi Osaka is facing a tough moment in her career with her head held up high. Osaka was one of the players at Wimbledon, moving all the way to the third round, where she lost against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She shared a moving reflection on her Instagram, prompted by a conversation she had with her father.
Osaka shared the post with her followers, showing a screenshot of some typed text titled "Expectations."
"Recently I had a talk with my dad. It wasn't a short talk but during that conversation something he said really stuck with me. He had told me how at 59 years old he feels closer to the end of his life than the beginning and its made him want to enjoy and treasure the years he has left," she wrote.
"He told me he finds this interesting because he thinks my tennis career is potentially similar. When we first had this conversation I stared at him blankly. I didn't really understand what he was trying to say to me and truthfully the topic made me panic. After a couple of days a realization suddenly hit me. I've been playing tennis since I was 3, playing professionally since I was 15 and I'm 27 now. I've lived almost my entire life playing this sport and I guess it's true, I am closer to the end than the beginning."
Osaka went on to recall one of her career's biggest achievements, winning the US Open trophy. "When I was younger my dream was to hold the US Open trophy, winning it seemed like a fairy tale so I just wanted to take the chance to hold it and look inside because my mom had told me a story about there being fairy dust at the bottom of the trophy."
Osaka vows to enjoy her sport and her life more instead of worrying over failures
"Miraculously, I have 2 of those trophies now. That means I doubled my wildest dreams and yet somehow I let my expectations of myself and the expectations of others prevent me from enjoying the rest of my journey no matter how long or short it may be."
Osaka concluded the post by promising herself that she will enjoy the rest of the time she has with the sport she loves. "Writing this to make a promise with myself to enjoy the times and be at peace traveling and seeing my daughter reap the fruits of my labor."
Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam champion and the mother of Shai, whom she shares with the rapper Cordae.