[ad_1]
Japanese tennis participant Naomi Osaka has all the time been vocal concerning the position of former NBA participant Kobe Bryant in her profession. Osaka thought-about the Lakers’ legend a mentor and all the time felt that the 2 had been very ‘comparable’ to one another.
In a three-episode Netflix docuseries about Osaka’s life, the four-time grand slam champion shared her struggles whereas coping with the demise of the American basketball legend.
Throughout that point, the Japanese tennis star misplaced back-to-back matches, and shedding her mentor solely added to her private {and professional} struggles.
Within the second episode of the collection, Osaka’s coach, Wim Fissette, revealed that Osaka’s straight-set loss to Sara Sorribes Tormo in the course of the 2020 Fed Cup match in Spain resulted from her grief. He added that she was “very unhappy” due to Kobe’s demise, and whereas she was bodily within the court docket, she wasn’t current there mentally.
“She was very, very unhappy for some time. After which what occurred in Spain, she wasn’t there. She was there in physique, however she wasn’t there in spirit.”
The previous world primary additionally felt horrible about shedding matches successively, feeling that she was letting her mentor down by being ‘mentally weak.’ One evening, she even went on a stroll and cried in the course of the street, unable to just accept that Kobe was no extra.
“I’m feeling like I let him down. I’m supposed to hold on his mentality in tennis, and right here I’m…I haven’t received a Grand Slam. I’m shedding matches as a result of I’m mentally weak, and that’s so uncharacteristic of him,” spoke Osaka whereas analyzing her current losses and grieving the lack of her position mannequin on the similar time.
She additionally shared an emotional anecdote about wanting to achieve out to the Lakers’ legend after her loss earlier than his demise however holding again. “I didn’t textual content him that as a result of I didn’t wish to really feel like a loser—and now I’ll by no means have the possibility to speak to him once more,” she stated.
At each alternative, Osaka has tried to pay tribute to the legendary basketball participant. She has by no means stopped speaking about how he helped her sail by means of stardom and struggles.
She additionally shared a video of her enjoying tennis with him by which the 2 may very well be seen passing the ball to one another earlier than the taking pictures guard smashed the balls into nets.
Most lately, in her look on the US Open Combined Insanity occasion, she wore the ‘Black Mamba’ jersey with the quantity 8 on the entrance and 24 on the again.
Her doubles associate Nick Kyrgios, too, walked out carrying a Lakers jersey with the quantity 8. This was an try by each tennis stars to honor Bryant’s legacy but once more.
[ad_2]
Source link
