"It was crazy" - Naomi Osaka opens up about unexpected encounter with familiar figure from her childhood

Naomi Osaka recently opened up about an unexpected encounter she had. The tennis player recounted running into a familiar figure from her childhood, calling the experience ‘crazy’.

Osaka has established herself as one of the biggest women's singles stars of late. She rose to prominence in 2018 when she triumphed over Serena Williams at the US Open final. Since then, she has gone on to win three more Major titles. Over the years, the Japanese has established a strong following and often gives her fans inside looks into her life, sharing anecdotes from her day-to-day activities.

On Sunday, Naomi Osaka shared that she recently ran into an elementary school classmate, explaining that it was an experience she had always wanted to have. Taking to her Instagram Threads account, she wrote,

“I just met someone who I went to elementary school with and it was crazy. I lowkey always wanted to meet my old classmates so that was cool.”

Via @naomiosaka on Instagram Threads

Naomi Osaka shares her dad’s unique lesson about ‘expectations’

Osaka and her father at the 2019 WTA Finals (Image Source: Getty)

Naomi Osaka recently shared a unique lesson about 'expectations' that her dad taught her. In a lengthy Instagram post, the tennis star wrote,

“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. He told me he finds this interesting because he thinks my tennis career is potentially similar.”

Osaka went on to explain that her dad’s words initially caused her to panic, but that she eventually understood that she was closer to the end of her tennis journey than the beginning. She added that her success has already surpassed her dreams, writing,

“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. 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.”

On the tennis end of things, Naomi Osaka's most recent outing came at the Wimbledon Championships. The four-time Grand Slam champion made it to the third round before losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

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Edited by Riddhi Acharya