'I don't really want to be famous': How Osaka has stayed grounded through evolving career
WASHINGTON -- When Naomi Osaka won the 2018 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, she felt nothing could top it.
The 6-3, 6-2 March 2018 win over Daria Kasatkina marked the then 20-year-old Osaka's first career WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz title and was a breakthrough win that put her name on notice.
"When I won Indian Wells, I for sure thought 'Wow, life can't get any crazier than this' because my mom was working all the time, and I rarely saw her, and she was able to retire because of that," Osaka said during her media day Sunday at the Mubadala DC Open. "I felt like that was peak.
"Then the US Open happened, and all of that stuff that came after it, so I feel there are moments. It keeps going, and even now, like, before this year, like all the fashion stuff, I thought, this is probably the [maximum] level."
Fast forward eight and a half years, Osaka addressed reporters in her pre-tournament press conference in Washington DC as a former World No. 1 with seven WTA singles titles and four Grand Slams. Even as her career has evolved with those achievements and heightened attention, nothing has changed. Osaka still doesn't think she's famous -- the way she wants it to be -- and her low-key, modest perspective has her in the right mindset in this stage of her career.
"I actually don't really want to be famous, so I'm good with where I'm at right now," Osaka added. "Then people are knowing me now for the fashion stuff more than the tennis, like fashion enthusiasts more than tennis fans.
"I feel like every moment has blips, and it's kind of just like always steadily going up. Whenever I think it's levelled out, something else keeps happening. In terms of life-changing, I don't know. It's weird. I've never considered myself famous, so I've always done everything that I've done before now."
Throughout the 2026 season, Osaka has garnered attention with her on-court, walk-on outfits at each of the three Grand Slams. For her, it's a way for someone with a more introverted personality share a passion of hers and simultaneously go out of that low-key comfort zone.
"Ironically, wearing the outfits that I wear have kind of forced me to speak a lot more, especially about topics that I'm not necessarily an expert on," Osaka said. "Being a tennis player, I could probably sit in front of this mic and talk about tennis for a really long time because it's a world that I'm used to.
"Kind of branching out, doing the fashion stuff has made me talk to people that I've never met before and things like that. [I'm] just trying to go into worlds that I've never imagined myself sort of being in before."
Osaka noted that when researching designers, she often enjoys coming across "small indie designers" that "are not necessarily super famous."
Back onto the hard courts, Osaka will play her first tournament since a quarterfinal run at Wimbledon earlier this month, her best result at the event. Osaka left the All England Club wanting more, and was disappointed she couldn't advance to the semifinal or the final. However, it's a reflection of her standards, and she's optimistic to return to the surface where she's won all four of her major titles and had plenty of success.
"Maybe for like a couple of days or so, I was just really disappointed in myself Maybe that's just my mindset, because I'm so hard on myself," Osaka said. "Obviously if someone gets that far in Wimbledon, it's something to be happy about, but for me, I really felt it was my time to do something.
"Life moves on, so now I'm here. It's the surface that I have the best results on, so I can only hope to be really optimistic and just hope that I play really well."
The No. 3 seed Osaka has a bye into the second round, and will face the winner of Katie Boulter and wild card Ashlyn Krueger.
