Naomi Osaka Credits Beyonce, Rihanna to Her Victory as a Tennis Athlete
Even the healthiest and strongest need ways to cope with the harsh world. Even an athlete like Naomi Osaka needs her jams to stay healthy and sane. Her preferred jams? By Beyonce and Rihanna. She also listens to Saweetie.
As Naomi Osaka strives to erase the stigma of mental health issues, the tennis star explained how she was inspired and raised by Saweetie, Rihanna, and Beyoncé when she herself is going through some deep, troubling times.
She said she hopes to have been able to assist some individuals and make them know that even athletes are mere humans like the rest of the world in her latest Women's Health interview.
She added that famous and successful athletes still need to something in their lives. She is known to have suffered from depression and anxiety in the past. In the middle of each episode however, she was able to pull through with unique techniques she came up with to anchor herself to. This reportedly included putting her Beats headphones when she comes to play a match.
She added that Beyoncé, Rihanna and Saweetie are her favorite prematch musicians, and listening to them before a great fight just always numbs her to most fears and ill thoughts.
"Music calms me, it silences the noise that won't help my game," she says. "For me, music is inspiring and uplifting," she added.
Naomi is not known to name or brand drop that she does not truly believe in. If she says Beyonce and Rihanna have the best music to calm her, then fans can bet this is true.
This is how she has been ever since. For example, Naomi also notes that she utilized Hyperice, the recovery tech/tool brand for her sport. According to Liz Plosser, Osaka is always "unapologetic about promoting the brands she aligns with and invests in."
This is why there is now no wonder that outside of her sports, she was able to found her own skin-care company Kinlò. She once said how shocked she was to learn about the statistics on skin cancer in Brown and Black skin would be.
Just recently, her anxiety could have been triggered by a reporter on a news conference.
Naomi Osaka's return to the news conference format after a three-month hiatus only went as far as three questions answered before she burst into tears.
The fourth query, which came from Paul Daugherty, a sports columnist for The Cincinnati Enquirer, made her cry. The reporter asked how she could temper her resistance to news conferences with the fact that most of her outside interests were "served by having a media platform." Not only did she tear up over the question, she had to leave the room to compose herself.
Osaka quit the French Open in May by saying press commitments worsened her anxiety, and has spurred all sorts and mixes of reactions.
